LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 1 

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UN8TED STATES OF AMERICA. ! 



MEMOIRS AND LETTERS 



RICHARD AND ELIZABETH^SHACKLETON, 

/ 

LATE OP BALLITORE, IRELAND, 

» 1* I 

COMPILED BY ^EIR DAUGHTER, 

M A R Y r L 




A CONCISE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, AND SOME LETTERS, OF HER 
GRANDFATHER, ABRAHAM SHACKLETON. 



" My boast is not that I deduce my birth 
From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth ; 
But higher far my proud pretensions rise, 
The child of parents pass'd into the skies." 

Cowper. 



A NEW EDITION, 
Containing mann batuafcle %ttttv£ mbtv htioxt puulistytB. 



LONDON: 

CHARLES GILPIN, 5, BISHOPSGATE STREET WITHOUT, 
J. B. GILPIN, DAME STREET, DUBLIN. 



1849. 



Tbvmr 




LONDON: 

RICHARD BARRETT, PRINTER, 

13, MARK LANE. 



PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION. 



After the publication of the former editions of this work, 
which chiefly contained letters addressed by Eichard Shackleton 
to his family, many other valuable letters came to hand, which 
induced the editor, Mary Leadbeater, to think they might 
suitably form a second volume ; she accordingly prepared them 
for the purpose, but was prevented by death from carrying 
her design into execution. The family, however, feeling a regret 
that these instructive letters should be lost to the public, and 
considering that the last edition of the work was nearly out 
of print, have since concluded on issuing a new edition, which 
should embrace most, or a considerable number, of the above 
new letters. This, therefore, has now been done, and as some 
of the letters of the former edition were of a private and 
familiar character, adapted more for his own family than for 
the public, it has been thought best to omit such of these as 
contain the least of instructive matter, in order to keep the 
work within the compass of one volume. 

There have been also considerable additions made to the 
brief sketch of Abraham Shackleton, so as to embody almost 
the whole of the Testimony of Carlow Monthly Meeting con- 
cerning him, from which it was originally taken. May the 
example here depicted of a true elder lead many, both those 



IV PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION. 

who are young in years, and such as are further advanced 
in life, not only to see and admire, but also to seek after, the 
excellency of the simplicity of the Truth and that estate into 
which the Power thereof gradually brings a man, who, in a 
total denial of self, fully gives up to be formed by it ; especially 
where they see the example and exercise of so faithful a father 
blessed to his son, as it was in the case of Richard Shackleton, 
who was enabled to follow the footsteps of his worthy parent, 
of both of whom it may be said, " How firm to Truth's life 
as well as to Truth's principles V these dear friends being- 
remarkable examples of a continual patient waiting for, and 
humble yielding to, the pure life of Christ in the soul. 

Eleventh Month loth, 1848. 



PREFACE. 



That feeling inherent in our nature, which loves to remember 
and to be remembered, having, in many instances, tended to 
the improvement as well as entertainment of those who prefer 
the narrative dictated by truth to works of imagination ; and 
the taste of the present day, more than of some of former ages, 
seeming to favour this judicious choice ; the compiler has 
been encouraged in a persuasion, that, instead of confining 
to their own descendants these memoirs and sentiments of 
an exemplary couple, they may be usefully introduced into 
more public view, and the memory thus preserved, of those 
virtues which graced the sphere allotted to them. 

A considerable number of letters, or extracts from letters, 
addressed by the late Richard Shackleton to some of his 
numerous friends, have already been submitted to the public 
eye, principally collected by his worthy, much-valued con- 
temporary, John Kendall ; by which his talents for epistolary 
converse have been evinced, in a way that it is hoped, 
will favourably dispose many readers to receive the present 
volume. 



VL PREFACE. 

The few letters of Elizabeth. Shackleton here offered, are 
fraught with virtuous sentiments and just distinctions, which 
seemed sufficient to warrant their publication. Nor can it be 
doubted that the development of the character of their revered 
father; the elder Abraham Shackleton, will prove equally inte- 
resting and instructive. 

Various anecdotes and allusions, respecting other individuals, 
amongst relations, family connexions, and friends, are also 
interspersed, as being too immediately connected with the 
principal subjects to admit of exclusion. 

The circumstances of the prominent characters in this little 
work, being closely interwoven, the editor has generally 
adopted a chronological order, considering that the advantage 
resulting from this, will be paramount to any inconvenience 
which may arise from a broken narrative. 

1822. M. L. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 



Birth of Richard Shackleton — Some account of his parents — Circum- 
stances attendant on Richard Shackleton's youth — His marriage 
— Extracts from letters — Decease of his wife .... 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Memoirs of Elizabeth Carleton's early life — Extracts from letters — 
R. Shackleton's second marriage — Some account of the establish- 
ment at Ballitore .13 

CHAPTER III. 
A further account of Abraham Shackleton — Some letters of Roger 
Shackleton — Death of Abraham Shackleton's wife — Various letters 
— Illness and death of Abraham Shackleton .... 28 

CHAPTER IV. 
Letters on different subjects, between the years 1771 and 1780 . . 73 

CHAPTER V. 
Letters written between the years 1781 and 1788, inclusive . . 136 

CHAPTER VI. 

Letters — The illness and decease of Richard Shackleton — Death of 

Elizabeth Shackleton 210 



MEMOIRS AND LETTERS, fee. 



CHAPTER I. 

BIRTH OF RICHARD SHACKLETON SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS PARENTS CIRCUM- 
STANCES ATTENDANT ON RICHARD SHACKLETON's YOUTH HIS MARRIAGE 

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS — -DECEASE OF HIS WIFE. 

Rjohard Shackleton" was born in Ballitore, on the 9th of the 
Tenth Month, 1726. His grandfather, whose name he bore, was a 
native of York-shire, where he married, in the year 1683, Sarah 
Briggs. Of their six children, Abraham, born in 1696, was the 
youngest. His mother died when he was six years of age, his 
father two years afterwards. Though deprived so early of religious 
parents, the impression made on him, by their careful education, was 
not in vain. He used frequently to mention the tender concern of 
his pious father, who, following him to his bed-side, was wont, on 
leaving him to his repose, awfully to recommend him to seek the 
Divine blessing. And that blessing did remarkably attend him 
during the course of his life ; for whilst as yet very young, and 
exposed to manifold dangers, he was enabled to preserve the tender- 
ness and innocence which constitute the happiness of childhood ; 
and often, retiring from his companions, he mused in solitude on the 
love of his Maker. In his youth he underwent great exercise and 
conflicts ; but persevering in the strait path of duty, and yielding 
obedience to the Divine monitor, through every stage of life the 
same protection was extended, as the same watchful care to seek 
after it was maintained. 

His bodily frame not being robust, after having made trial of 
other means of gaining a livelihood, he resigned them, and culti- 
vated his natural taste for literature. Though he was twenty years 
of age when he began to learn the Latin language, yet, with genius 
and application united, he speedily became a good classical scholar, 
and even wrote pure and elegant Latin. His acquirements, his 

B 



2 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

diligence, and still more his character, induced some of the most 
respectable families of the Society of Friends in Ireland, (of which 
religious body he was himself a member,) to encourage him to come 
into this country, and undertake the tuition of their children. He 
first engaged in the employment of a private teacher ; and in great 
simplicity of heart, and awful fear, discharged his important trust, 
greatly to the satisfaction of his employers. Having, before his 
removal, been a teacher in the school of David Hall, of Skipton, in 
Yorkshire, he there became acquainted with Margaret Wilkinson, 
first cousin to David Hall, an inmate in his family, and daughter 
of Richard Wilkinson, of Knowlbank, in Yorkshire. She was 
pleasing in person and manners, cheerful, of a sweet temper, and 
endowed with good sense ; but what attracted and confirmed Abraham 
Shackleton's affection to her, was the excellence of her humble and 
pious spirit. He loved her with a true love, and, in a few years, 
returned to England, solicited, and obtained her hand. Those 
Friends who had had trial of his abilities as a private teacher, 
and who saw the advantages accruing to the youth, from such an 
example as his, were glad to find he had determined to settle in 
Ireland, and to open a boarding-school. They, probably, suggested 
the idea to him, for he was of a diffident disposition. Ballitore 
seemed to be a suitable place for this purpose, a retired village in 
the county of Kildare, twenty-eight miles south of Dublin, the 
river Griese, a pleasant stream, running through the valley in which 
the village stands, and contributing to its salubrity. It was a 
situation, also, which gratified Abraham Shackleton's inclination for 
the country, and his love of agriculture and planting. Hither, 
then, he brought his beloved Margaret. Here they passed their 
peaceful, pious lives ; here shone the steady lustre of their bright 
example ; and here they laid down their heads in a good old age. 
But their virtues left behind a sweet odour, when their places knew 
them no more ; and their memories are handed down with respect 
and love, from one generation to another. 

The boarding-school was opened on the 1st of the Third Month, 
1726, and succeeded beyond the humble hopes of its conductors; 
so that not only those of their own Society, and of the middle rank, 
but many persons of considerable note, and of various denomina- 
tions, placed their children under their care ; several of whom after- 
wards filled conspicuous stations in life ; and many not only retained 
a grateful and affectionate respect for the memory of their preceptor, 
but good-will and regard for the Society of Friends on his account ; 
remembering his extraordinary diligence and care in their tuition, 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 8 

his fatherly oversight of them, and also the living lesson of upright- 
ness, temperance, gravity and humility, which he taught by his ex- 
ample. And there is ground to believe, that the principles of the 
people called Quakers were better understood, and that many illi- 
beral prejudices against them were removed, by means of Ballitore 
School. 

Amongst the scholars of Abraham Shackleton, one of the most 
distinguished for early attainments in literature, was Edmund Burke, 
who, with Garrett and Richard, his brothers, was placed under his 
care, in the year 1741. Edmund, being then about eleven years of 
age, manifested uncommon genius, with qualities which shelter that 
"painful pre-eminence" from those envious blasts, which annoy 
even when they cannot injure ; for he was unassuming, affable, and 
modest. He and Richard Shackleton, the son of Abraham, pursued 
their studies together. The minds of both were strongly bent to 
literary acquirements ; both were endowed with a classical taste, 
solid judgment, and keen perceptions ; and with similar dispositions, 
cheerful, affectionate and benevolent. Between these kindred minds 
a friendship was formed, which continued through life, notwith- 
standing the different spheres in which they moved. When they 
met afterwards, Edmund Burke delighted to converse with the 
friend of his youth, on subjects that recalled their juvenile days. 
In private life, he was distinguished by the practice of the domestic 
and social virtues, and by exemplary moral conduct. His manners 
and conversation were engaging and instructive ; clothed with a 
simplicity which softened the brilliancy of his talents, and made 
him even more beloved than admired. 

Michael Kearney was another of Abraham Shackleton's pupils, a 
native of Dublin ; a person of acknowledged worth and learning, 
and as remarkable for his modesty as for his acquirements. At the 
age of eighty, he gave proof, by a few lines addressed to one of the 
family, of the permanency of that friendship, which, springing from 
the soil 'of innocent and cultivated minds, produces blossoms and 
fruits, to gladden the heart in youth and in age. " A renewal/' 
says he, " however slight, of a correspondence with Ballitore, ex- 
cited a most affecting pulsation in my heart : it attracted my atten- 
tion to old times, when I was accustomed to receive letters from 
your father, to whom I am indebted for much instruction in what is 
laudable and excellent." Speaking of the pleasure with which he 
read a description of Ballitore, in verse, he adds, " It bestowed on 
me a momentary youth. I recollected the haunts of my boyhood 
with inexpressible pleasure, and retraced events that had occurred 

b2 



* MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

on every spot. The cowslips of the Mill-field were not forgotten, 
and many instructive conversations with your father started into 
my mind/' It was not the recollection of hours spent with his friend 
in idleness, folly, or mischievous frolics, which was presented to his 
memory ; but through the long retrospect of much more than half 
a century, this venerable man could pleasantly contemplate their 
past studies and recreations. The cultivation of taste and science 
is favourable to the preservation of purity in conduct and sentiment ; 
and though there are lamentable instances of fine talents being laid 
waste, and, instead of raising a goodly and useful structure, affording, 
by their ruin, a shelter to the beasts of prey and birds of night ; yet 
the generality of the dissipated and profligate, appear to be those 
who have neglected or despised the improvement of their own 
abilities, and endeavoured to depreciate those intellectual powers 
and accomplishments, which they were either unwilling or unable 
to comprehend ; who, in the words of Gay, 

" O'erlook with scorn all virtuous arts ; 
For vice is fitted to their parts." 

When Richard Shackleton was but five years old, his heart expe- 
rienced the touches of Divine love ; and he sometimes withdrew to 
a retired spot, where he poured out his soul in prayer, and was per- 
mitted to approach Him who said, " Suffer little children to come 
unto me." Often did he look back upon this time, and the scene of 
these early aspirations, which seemed hallowed in his view. It was 
a precious period of his life when he was led to enter into covenant 
with his Maker — when he walked out alone with his Bible, and 
poured out his prayers and his tears, being favoured with that 
heavenly feeling which surpasses every other enjoyment ; and this 
tenderness continued, with very little interruption, to operate on his 
mind till the sixteenth year of his age. 

On his arriving at this critical period of life, the levity incident 
to youth, and his own natural vivacity, drew him, in degree, from 
that watchfulness enjoined by the highest authority, and on which 
our safety and happiness depend ; and though preserved within the 
bounds of morality, the religious sensibility experienced in early 
life was weakened. This lapse, though it had been long recovered, 
he regretted, when about to close his exemplary life. He was very 
diligent in seeking after improvement in literary knowledge ; and, 
while yet a child, was able to assist his father. For this purpose he 
spent some time in Dublin, attending lectures at the college, and 
learning the Hebrew language. The pious care exercised over him, 
when absent from his parents, will appear by the following extracts 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHAOKLETON. 5 

from letters written to him by his father. " Keep thy mind as quiet 
as possible, so that thou mayst have benefit of this little tour. I 
desire thou mayst have thy eye to Him that hath preserved, in some 
degree, him that writeth, and is his chief est joy. Next to that, my 
joy is that mine may walk acceptably before Him. Durable riches, 
I know, and honours are in His right hand, which He dispenses 
impartially, in His own fit time." 1744?. " We are very desirous 
of seeing thee at home, for several reasons ; and yet very loath to 
interrupt thee in that in which thou proposest to thyself an advan- 
tage, or, at least, a satisfaction ; for thou mayst assure thyself, 
whilst thou continuest to eye the best things, thou art and wilt be 
near to me." 

" My dear son, that gracious Hand that dispenses Divine favours 
liberally, hath not been wanting to my mind, since thou left us, and 
thou hast been nearly remembered by me ; and my desires are, that 
thou mayst often participate of those riches and treasures that add 
no sorrow, but give the soul dominion over all lower enjoyments. 
This sifting, winnowing, purging, cleansing Hand, that would make 
room for itself — that would leave nothing but the pure, weighty 
grain — bring every thought, word, and action to judgment ; may it 
be attended upon, and, when retired and withdrawn, patiently waited 
for. Experience tells us here, too, that the prodigal must know 
want." 1748. 

" Thou hast been pretty much in my mind since we parted, and 
I have often remembered that portion of Scripture : ' The refining 
pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold/ Various are the proba- 
tions that are permitted to fall to our share, in this vale of tears. 
I cannot think but, if it be not our own fault, they may turn to 
our lasting advantage, in purging away the dross, the tin, and the 
reprobate silver. The more deep the trials, the more severe and 
heavy the refining, reforming Hand presses on our souls, the more 
high they may rise in acceptance, and have the more sensible enjoy- 
ments ; and then may the soul bow, in the depth of humility, to the 
Root, and know its dependence on that from whence living nourish- 
ment springs. Surely, the all-wise God hath, for a wise and blessed 
end, dispensed day and night to our souls, as well as to the outward 
creation, to engage and enamour our souls to love Him." 1748. 

Richard Shackleton very early in life became attached to Elizabeth, 
youngest daughter of Henry and Deborah Fuller ; # and having his 

* Deborah Fuller was the daughter of John Barcroft, one of the pro- 
prietors of the lands of Ballitore, and Elizabeth, his wife, who was an 
acceptable minister. She died in 1740, having survived her husband several 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

parents' entire approbation of his choice, he applied for her hand 
about the twenty-second year of his age. The state of his mind at 
that time, is best expressed in his own words, as he related it to a 
dear friend. " I received a kind of refusal, which I took ; my 
mind being awakened in a most extraordinary manner, from the 
time of my application to that period, and possessed with doubt and 
dread, so that I feared, if we went together, the Divine blessing 
would not crown our union. In this season I sought solitary places 
to weep in, and pour out my tears to the Lord. Many wondered 
that I took the disappointment so to heart, supposing my dejection 
to proceed from that. I let them suppose what they would, and 
being favoured to keep inward, my covenants were renewed. In 
about six months from this time, I found a liberty to renew my suit." 

They were married the 2nd of Second Month, 1 749, and settled 
in a pleasant dwelling, in the village near their parents, who looked 
forward with joyful hope to future prospects for their children, 
whom they beheld walking in the path which leads to happiness. 

About this time, a little band, young in years, but increasing in 
the experience of those things which belong to peace, became closely 
united. Amongst these, Mary Peisley, Samuel Neale, Elizabeth 
Pike, Richard Shackleton and his wife, and Elizabeth Carleton, 
often met, and were a strength and encouragement to each other. 
Their union is expressed thus, in a letter from Richard Shackleton 
to Samuel Neale : " My cry was to-day, dear friend, for us who 
are young, who are known by one another, to have good desires be- 
gotten in us for the blessed cause, that we might be preserved, and 
plentifully filled with Divine wisdom, of which I saw a great neces- 
sity, that the Lord would take us, being children, and teach us 
himself; and that we might be drawn into near unity with one 
another/' Samuel Neale who had been forgiven much, loved much ; 
and having been obedient to the heavenly vision, became a vessel of 
honour, replenished with good, and pouring it forth for the refresh- 
ment of others. He was one, who, remembering the trials which 
attend youth, compassionated them ; and in advanced life, his 
winning affability towards young persons, his fatherly love and care, 
his heart and house open to receive them, made a deep impression 
on their minds, from which many received lasting advantage. 

The following extracts from letters written in the year 1752, 
instructively depict the state of R. Shackleton's mind at this period, 

years. Near the close of life, she overflowed in sweet counsel to her chil- 
dren, and testified of her early experience of the Lord's goodness, which 
had been continued through life. 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. J 

[evincing his ardent desire and faithful exercise for the advancement 
of the dear Saviour's kingdom, both in his own heart and in the 
hearts of others.] 

From R. S. to 



"Ballitore, 3rd of Fifth Month, 1751. 
" Dear Friend, 

" I received thine from Edinburgh, and am well pleased that time 
and distance have not obliterated me from thy memory. I can say 
also, that on my part I have not forgot thee, but am desirous for 
thy welfare in every respect, that as thou growest in years, thou 
mayst grow in grace, and as thou improvest in human learning, thou 

mayst become an adept in Divine. Divinity, dear is not a 

trade, but it is a science, and that the most noble of all sciences. It 
comprehends in it the finest speculations of moral philosophy, and 
what is more, reduces them to practice. Humility, patience, charity, 
abstinence, and simplicity, and all the virtues are included in it ; 
they are not only understood but exercised here ; and by how much 
actions exceed words, and a possession is beyond a profession, by so 
much is the religious man more excellent than the scholar. I wish 
for thee, dear friend, amid thy diligent attention to thy studies, that 
thou mayst feel a degree of that Power, which, as it is given way to, 
will wean thee gradually from the nature and spirit of the world, in 
which there is trouble, and draw thee towards Him in whom there 

is peace. This, dear , will let thee see how to enjoy and use 

all things in their seasons and in their places, and will sanctify thy 
natural and acquired accomplishments, and render them beneficial to 
thyself and others. I hope thou wilt not be offended at my freedom : 
I have a secret love for thee, and would therefore press it home to 
thee to reflect on these things. Be not one of those who can con- 
form, (they think it a part of good breeding,) in dress, speech and 
behaviour to those with whom they converse ; they may assume, if 
they please, the title of gentlemen, but I think they have not a just 
right to that of Christians j for our Great Pattern told his followers 
that he had chosen them out of the world, and therefore the world 
hated them ; consequently they were of a spirit different from the 
world. And the apostle Paul charges the Romans, ■ not to be con- 
formed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of their 
minds/ &c, and I am in no doubt but that the disciples of Christ 
in their garb, speech and deportment, wore the badge of their Great 
Master, some mark which distinguished them from the world. Peter 



8 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

seems to have been known to the damsel by his very aspect to have 
been with Jesus, when he denies it ; another tells him, ' Thy 
speech bewrayeth thee/ So that to conceal his profession of Christ, 
his last resource was, ' to curse and swear/ Whether much stress 
may be laid on this particular quotation or not, I am sure the Spirit 
of Truth leads, and always led into the path of humility and self- 
abasement ; and when this has dominion in the mind, there will be 
visible marks on the body, the gem will shine through the casket. 
Thus far have I written to thee in love, and in love take leave at 
present, and bid thee heartily farewell. 

" R. S." 

" 7 th of Fourth Month. 
" Had I kept, as I believe thou dost, to my first love, and not 
suffered the wisdom of the fallen nature to blind and deafen, and, 
in appearance, almost totally quench in me the second Adam, which 
is a quickening Spirit, I should not now be without true wisdom, in 
a captious, deceitful world. May the harms of others teach thee to 
beware. Prize, prize, the jewel which I believe thou art possessed 
of. It is indeed the pearl of price. I should rather possess the 
least portion of it, than all the wisdom of this world. Knowledge, 
indeed, pufifeth up ; but charity, which is this pure love, edifieth. 
Take William Penn's advice to his children : ' Part with all for it, 
but part not with it for all the world/" 

" 14th of Sixth Month. 
" I have had a pretty deal of Mary Peisley's company since my 
last. She proves, by her conversation, that text, ' The words of 
the wise are as nails fastened in a sure place/ As there is no 
company so agreeable to me as that of such dear instruments, I find 
myself not out of danger in indulging myself in it. My mind is 
too apt to be drawn out in these opportunities, from a still, quiet 
frame, into a flutter and commotion ; and the affections of the crea- 
ture to steal gradually into the room of the pure love of the Creator, 
who is ever jealous of his just rights : and this wounds the life, 
and defeats the true satisfaction and benefit which might accrue 
from such conversation ; and instead of parting from our friends 
with a sweet savour, we make that parting doubly uneasy, by losing 
the company of the invisible as well as visible friend/' 

" 25th of Ninth Month. 
" Oh ! how I love uprightness and plain dealing ; a heart which 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETOX. 9 

loves its friends sincerely ; that will not harbour and conceal a 
self-pleasing, envious, injurious thought of its friend, nor bear to 
hear it uttered by another without rebuke. May the virtues of 
integrity and simplicity, and single and honest-heartedness, be ours, 
for they are truly Christian. Yea, may it please Divine wisdom 
more and more to purge out the sour leaven, and leaven our hearts 
with the leaven of the kingdom ; even the leaven of meekness, long- 
suffering, and tenderness of spirit : so shall we be disciples indeed ; 
contrite, humble, and faithful followers of the Lamb, whithersoever 
he leadeth. May the Lord preserve us as innocent, tender, and 
babe-like children before him, hungering to be fed by him, and 
growing up as goodly plants under his hand. Oh ! this child-like 
nature : when shall I get enough into it ? It is only as a measure 
of this is effected in us, that we can cry, ' Abba, Father.' 

" Though, as thou say est, c things look bad/ let us look well at 
home ; and as we are incapable, in a great degree, of doing any 
thing to make matters better, let us not make them worse, and the 
breach wider in the enmity, by saying or doing any thing in our 
own unregenerated wills, and natural heat of temper, which may 
hurt instead of furthering others. For the enemy works in us with 
the engines and tools of our corrupt nature, which he finds there : 
and so crafty is the serpent, that he will seem to employ these 
weapons for the good Cause, against himself ; whereas, he works in 
a mystery for himself, against the Cause, by raising heats, and 
divisions, and hardness of heart between brethren. But let us en- 
deavour, as much as in us lies, to live peaceably with all men, and 
if we see a brother offend in breaking any branch of our Christian 
testimony, and by the fire of pure zeal warming and cleansing our 
own hearts, we find that the Truth (as will often be the case) calls 
for a witness to it, let us wait to be guided by the Spirit of love and 
meekness, to bear our innocent, faithful testimony : and if it be not 
received, stand in the counsel of the same Spirit, and let not that 
get up which would render evil for evil, but overcome evil with good/' 

Richard Shackleton to E. Pike. 

" Ballitore, 29th of Ninth Month, 1752. 
" Dear Friend, 

" My desires are strong for thy welfare, and therefore 

would I recommend to thee, as some little of my experience, prin- 
cipally and especially to be diligent in the practice of this — often 
to wait on the Lord for the renewing of strength, and this not only 
in secret, where no eye sees, but also at other times, in, and before 



10 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

thy family. And in whatever manner it may please the Lord to 
appear, be not thou ashamed of his coming. 

" Remember that a broken heart and a contrite spirit, which are 
offerings of his own preparing, are such as he never despises ; nay, 
he has said by his prophet, ' though the Heaven be my throne, and 
the earth my footstool, yet to this man will I look, even unto him 
that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word/ 
And such a practice, so far from lessening thy authority, I know by 
experience, will strengthen it in thy family, and insensibly clothe 
every branch of it with a true respect and love towards thee, nay 
more than perhaps they would otherwise bear thee. 

" Besides as heads of our respective families, we have a duty to 
exercise in them, and how can we seek for strength to exercise this 
duty, and be said to walk exemplarily before them, if we do not, from 
time to time, wait for a renewal of our spiritual senses and strength, 
and by our example of waiting on the Lord set before their eyes, 
show them that they also should be found following us in the practice 
of this most necessary duty, as well as others respecting their conduct 
and appearance. I know no more I have to say. But thou mayst 
be assured that however poor my expression, and feeble my endea- 
vours to help thee forward, I have at times truly sincere and warm 
desires for thy welfare, with which I shall conclude and remain thy 
real friend, 

" Richard Shackleton." 

" 14th of Tenth Month. 

" I have, I confess, been favoured at times, since my last, with 
the washing of water to repentance and regeneration ; not through 
any instrumental help, but through the powerful operation of the 
Spirit of judgment and of burning, in my solid retirement in and 
before my family. We are too apt, after such washing times, to 
run like sheep, skipping and leaping from the washpool, and so are 
in danger of being bespattered with mire again, instead of being 
weightily concerned that a sense of that power may rest upon our 
spirits, which is alone truly comfortable, and can keep us solid, 
steady, and fruitful. For as the sheep is washed, in order that it 
may be shorn ; so are we washed and cleansed, that we may ' bring 
forth fruit meet for Him who has dressed/ My desires are strong 
in my measure, that we several of us, who are known by one an- 
other, and known to our heavenly Father to have, at times, living 
desires raised in us for the glory of God and the eternal happiness 
of ourselves, and one of another ; and sometimes a further concern 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 11 

that our backsliding brethren may no more revolt, but return and 
live — my desires are that we may come up nobly and boldly in his 
cause, and be absolutely (I see no other way to be of service) re- 
signed to the will and disposal of the great Lord of the harvest, 
dedicating freely and cheerfully, as our forefathers did, all we have, 
internal and external, to his service/'' 

The following is an extract from the only letter which has been 
found, from Eichard Shaekleton to his wife. They were not often 
separated : they probably hoped to pass a long life together, and 
therefore might not have been so careful, to preserve such memorials 
of affection, as he afterwards became ; and he often regretted his 
not having one letter by him, of the few he had received from the 
dear object of his youthful love, who was tenderly remembered by 
him through the whole of his succeeding life. 

" Dublin, 6th of Eleventh Month, 1752. 
" My dear Wife, 

"I trust it is the Lord, the God of our fathers and fore- 
fathers, even the Lord who I believe was with us in joining us 
together in his holy ordinance ; he has appeared in my heart at this 
season, both in public and private, as a refiner with fire, and as a 
fuller with soap, to the cleansing and purifying my heart, and fitting 
it for a temple meet for him to dwell in. May thou and I, my dear 
wife, patiently abide the day and way of His coming, that in due 
season we may witness our sins blotted out, and the times of refresh- 
ment from before His presence ; that so, having desired Him that He 
may be the stay of our youth, we may experience Him (if length of 
days be continued to us) to be the staff of our age. 

" Thy tender, affectionate husband, 

" Eichard Shackleton." 

In the spring of 1754, an afflictive dispensation was allotted to 
Eichard Shaekleton. On the ninth day after the birth of his son 
Henry, he was deprived, by death, of his beloved wife, and left the 
sorrowful father of four children ; viz. Deborah, Margaret, Abraham, 
and Henry, (the latter died young.) The exquisite distress which 
he endured at this separation, was proportioned to the sweetness of 
their union : he had lost the object of his early affections, the 
endeared companion with whom he had entered into those family 
duties, which, during the short space of time they had lived together, 



12 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON, 

she had worthily fulfilled. He had lost her when, from youth and 
health, they might naturally have looked forward to many happy 
years : but the great Disposer of events, in his inscrutable wisdom, 
ordered otherwise. 

R. S. TO 



" Ballitore, 2nd of First Month, 1755. 

" I have the comfort to tell thee, without boasting, that I think 
I grow a little in a sense that death itself cannot separate and 
divide the union of those spirits whom the Lord hath joined and 
preserved near himself; and this has been my greatest relief in 
some late sorrowing seasons, for the loss of my very dear and 
inwardly-beloved companion, whose spirit I am at times nearly 
united unto, when in the depth of affliction ; and whose better part 
I fervently pray to rejoin, when my trials, my baptisms, my provings, 
and solitary sorrows, which are many, shall be over. 

" E. S " 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Ballitore, 29th of Sixth Month, 1755. 

" Outward trials are suffered to come to prove us, whether they 
will dislocate our minds from that which ought to be their Centre. 
If they effect this, the accuser of the brethren, who obtained per- 
mission to put forth his blasting hand upon the outward substance 
of upright Job, has gained so much of his point ; but if such storms 
only drive us nearer to the shelter of that Hand which is full of 
blessing, then they have a good effect. 

' Who sees not Providence all good and wise, 
Alike in what he gives and what denies V — Pope. 

"Richard Shackleton." 



CHAPTER II. 

MEMOIRS OF ELIZABETH CARLETON's EARLY LIFE — EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS 
R. SHACKLETON's SECOND MARRIAGE SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ESTA- 
BLISHMENT AT BALLITORE. 

Elizabeth Carleton # has been already mentioned, as forming 
one of the little company of young persons united by the bonds of 
Christian friendship ; and as the circumstances of her early life are 
fraught with instruction, some narration of them will, it is believed, 
prove interesting to the reader. 

She was born the 10th of Tenth Month, 1726. When young 
she discovered a strong inclination for the fine arts ; had a musical 
ear, and a fine voice ; and indulged in dress as far as she could. 
Her person was agreeable, her manners pleasing, and her company 
acceptable to the gay and thoughtless ; though a native delicacy, 
amounting to timidity, and a sense of decorum, prevented her from 
taking the latitude she might otherwise have been induced to take. 
She excelled in skill and ingenuity with her needle, and was pre- 
paring to work a picture for an exhibition, when the ministry of a 
Friend, on a religious visit in Ireland, was made instrumental to dis- 
cover to her the vanity of the things in which she had delighted. 
The account of this period of her life is thus related by herself. 

" As long as I can remember, I think I was of a diffident, 
cowardly disposition, fearful of doing what I knew was wrong, lest I 
should be punished ; yet, when very young, was fond of play, and 
at times earned reproof. As I advanced in age, the follies and 
pleasures of youth allured my mind ; and company, though of our 
own Society, with whom I was intimate, strengthened the growth of 
the wrong seed in my heart : so that I delighted much in many 

* Elizabeth Carleton was descended from a good stock : her paternal 
grandfather, Thomas Carleton, of Cumberland, was united to the Society of 
Friends by convincement ; became a public preacher, and suffered much, 
both in property and health, by a long imprisonment on account of his tes- 
timony against tithes. He moved afterwards to Ireland, where several of 
his children were born, and where he died in 1684. Her maternal grand- 
father, George Rooke, also a native of Cumberland, joined Friends when a 
youth, and was a minister amongst them sixty-six years. His only 
daughter, Rachel, married Joshua, the youngest son of Thomas Carleton, 
in the year 1710. 



14 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

things which, though perhaps not accounted evil by the people, yet 
were very hurtful, and in danger of destroying the innocent life, 
which ought to be cherished with great care ; such as light, airy 
company, music and singing ; and a great thirst for reading such 
books as were entertaining to the natural part, with specious titles for 
promoting virtue and rendering vice odious ; yet, like subtle poison, 
gradually tending to the destruction of the root of virtue and inno- 
cence in the mind, and creating a dislike to reading the Scriptures, 
and such other writings as would strengthen and encourage us to live 
a self-denying life, according to the precepts of our blessed Lord. 

" These practices of mine were not with the knowledge or appro- 
bation of my dear mother and grandfather, the only parents I had left ; 
but concealed from them, and on that account attended with fear 
and remorse, knowing well that I could not hide from the penetrating 
eye of Him who beholds the secrets of all hearts. This sense caused 
a dread of future misery for such conduct, as well as fear of being 
discovered by my friends to be what I did not appear to be ; which, 
though enticed to join with the temptations when they presented, 
yet was a character I much disliked. And the sincerity of my heart, 
I believe, pleaded with Almighty goodness to have an eye to me, 
and not to cast me off, but mercifully and wonderfully to preserve 
me from greater evils, of which I was in much danger ; and also to 
awaken me to a sense of my perilous situation : so that when I 
would retire to bed at night for sleep, his terrors, lest I should be 
deprived of life in that state, followed me. I feared to think of it, 
and would often resolve to live more circumspectly ; but fresh tempta- 
tions often falling in my way, and not keeping up the inward watch 
as I ought, my condition, like that of many others, was to be deplored. 
But He, whose compassion faileth not, was pleased to visit my soul 
in a particular manner, in a public meeting in Meath-street, Dublin ; 
I think on the 3rd of Ninth Month, (old style,) 1747, about the 
twenty-first year of my age, through the living testimony of a faith- 
ful servant, Richard Hipsley, from Bristol. 

" My mind had been awakened, in the same meeting, by the 
testimony of some other Friend, and 1 thought how pleasing it would 
be, if such ministers of the gospel were to continue with us ; when 
Richard Hipsley stood up, and mentioned, as well as I remember, 
the disciples being for building three tabernacles, one for Moses, 
one for Elias, and one for Christ ; but these servants were removed, 
Christ remained, and the voice uttered : ' This is my beloved Son, 
hear ye him/ I cannot recollect further of his testimony, but those 
words had such an effect on me, that my heart seemed changed, 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHAOKLETON. 15 

tender, and broken — a heart of flesh instead of a stony one ; my 
desires seemed new, a new heaven and a new earth, in which some 
degree of righteousness was about to dwell. The cross then, in this 
day of power, which before I could not willingly take up, became 
easier, and the burden lighter ; the practices before mentioned I 
dared not join with ; often being retired, humbled, and broken as it 
were to pieces. Strength was administered to withstand tempta- 
tions, and my love to Truth and the friends of it grew strong ; and 
the love of such seemed much toward me, so that I wondered that 
they should take such notice of me, who seemed to myself entirely 
unworthy. 

" I found that my safety consisted in watchfulness to know, and 
humble resolution to do, what I thought was required of me, though 
much in the cross to my nature ; Divine goodness strengthening me 
to bear reproaches, persuasions, and mockings of my old companions, 
who, to their own miserable loss, withstood the offers of heavenly 
love extended to them ; and notwithstanding I might expect such 
treatment, I dared not shun the place, but appeared amongst them in 
a very different manner from what I was used to do, both in my con- 
duct and dress. Of myself I could not have acted thus, but by en- 
deavouring to keep inward and watchful over my words and be- 
haviour, begging to be preserved from bringing dishonour on that 
Holy One whom I was now above all desirous to serve ; and he 
was pleased, in great condescension, to preserve me in simplicity, 
and fear of offending him. I dared not stay from any meeting which 
it was in my power to attend, and often called to see or inquire for 
such friends as I heard were indisposed, even if not much or at all 
acquainted with them before, which caused many to have an affec- 
tionate regard for me ; and made way to drop hints sometimes to my 
friends, which I was afraid to omit, lest I should be one of those 
that were not faithful in small things, and so become weaker, and not 
able to pursue the path which my eyes were opened to see was that 
of acceptance. 

" As other things were become new, so was my desire for reading. 
Now the Scriptures, our Friends' sufferings, and other writings 
edifying and useful I delighted in, and forsook those which I knew 
were hurtful to my mind. Retirement and waiting upon the Lord, 
to renew my strength in him, I found was good and necessary. 
Visiting, or being in much company, I declined, lest thereby I should 
be drawn away from off my watch. Religious friends I loved to be 
with, and such were kind and tender towards me ; and under the 
sense of the notice that many worthy ministers visiting this nation 



16 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

took of me, my mind was often bowed in humble admiration, that 
such a poor, weak creature as I, should be so favoured ; and it was 
often hard to part with such, and cost me many tears ; and after 
they were gone, divers have written me encouraging letters. 

" Thus was I helped, through the kindness of Him who affords 
strength to those that are sensible of their own weakness and entire 
insufficiency to preserve themselves ; fulfilling His old promise, of 
' carrying His lambs as in His arms." 

" Though my mind was so bent to practise what I believed to be 
my duty in religion, I saw that it was also my duty to be diligent and 
industrious in outward business, helping to make it easier to my 
aged mother and weakly sister. I have had often to admire how I 
was enabled, when left alone with a servant, (my mother and sister 
in the country, on account of my sister's health,) to carry on our 
little business, attend meetings constantly, and keep the house in so 
frugal a manner, that little would be expended, and my kind neigh- 
bours and friends well pleased, when they called to see me, to find 
me at home and properly employed. 

" Thus I went on for some years, endeavouring to do justly, love 
mercy, and walk humbly ; being sensible that a warfare still must 
be maintained, and a greater victory must be achieved over my own 
passions and natural propensities, and that best wisdom was neces- 
sary to guide me through life. As my experience could not be much, 
therefore I often begged for it. In course of time, some degree of 
zeal for the promotion of Truth seemed kindled in me, and a desire 
to attend some of the General Meetings, which was scarcely in my 
power, from my situation ; but in a while, my dear friend Elizabeth 
Pike was raised up to be a kind and faithful help-meet to me, and 
we took many journeys together to General Meetings, often under 
difficulties. 

" We frequently met with discouragement in our meetings for 
discipline, by such as were settled in the old way, which they did 
not seem to think necessary to alter, though strongly recommended 
to do so, by worthy servants sent from far to visit us ; but our minds 
being preserved in patience and humble dependence on Almighty 
help, in time way was made to have things brought into better order, 
which my worthy friend, Elizabeth Gill, endeavoured to promote. 
She was a tender, loving friend, and willing to encourage the youth 
who were desirous to be what the Lord would have them to be." 

To this truly pious and amiable Friend, Elizabeth Carleton, 
Richard Shackleton made proposals of marriage. The two situa- 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 17 

tions which she most wished to avoid, that of a step-mother and 
mistress of a boarding-school, were involved in the serious subject 
for consideration laid before her, which her friendship for E. S. and 
her conviction of the excellence of his character, could scarcely have 
outweighed ; but her sense of duty was added to them, and in accept- 
ing his offer she became one of the best of step-mothers, and one of 
the best of matrons to a public school. Her sphere of usefulness 
was enlarged, and she needed not affliction to keep her humble, which, 
in the sincerity of her heart, she had desired, if necessary ; for the 
responsibility of her station forcibly impressed the need of that con- 
stant watchfulness which so remarkably characterized her words and 
actions. 

The difficulties which she anticipated, vanished or were made 
easy to her ; and she found, in the worth and affection of her ex- 
cellent companioD, those blessings which constitute the happiness of 
married life. 

E, S. to his Father. 

" Dublin, 1st of Eleventh Month, 1755. 
" Dear Father, 

" The meeting began this day for the nation. I have not much 
to say about it. It looks as if we must labour hard for our bread, 
through the course of the meetings : perhaps it may be best so, for 
what is hardly gotten is oftentimes carefully kept. And, indeed, I 
think I have seen great loss accrue to some of honourable rank, in 
this respect ; that when good Providence, in unmerited condescension, 
has favoured them with the bedewino-s of his goodness, in order for 
leavening and seasoning their spirits for his service, (which is so 
much wanting,) they have, for want of knowing a settlement and 
abiding in the life, let these favours pass transiently over, and not 
be productive of the fruit intended by them. And with sorrow it 
may be too often said of them : ' Their goodness is as a morning 
cloud, and as the early dew it goeth way/ 

" Thy affectionate son, 

" ElCHARD SHACKLETON." 

Eichard Shackleton and Elizabeth Carleton were married the 
17th of Tenth Month, 1755. 

E. S. TO HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW, EACHAEL CARLETON. 

" Ballitore, 16th of Twelfth Month, 1755. 

" It would give me pleasure, and add much to the 

satisfaction I daily enjoy in thy daughter, to know that her loss sits 

c 



18 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

with tolerable ease upon you. I should rather call it her absence, 
not her loss ; for I hope Providence will favour us with meeting 
divers times together again, in this land of uncertainty ; and they 
are not lost, who are found in the places which Infinite Wisdom has 
ordered them in, which I hope is the case with thy dear, valuable 
child : and I doubt not but this consideration makes this separation 
easier to be borne by thee. And I sincerely desire it may be made 
up to you by the most solid comfort, which unites together in spirit 
those that are absent in body, and is the crown of the aged as w^sll 
as the youth. That this may be our chiefest care to seek after, 
whether old or young, is the sincere desire of, 

" Thy dutiful and affectionate son, 

" Richard Shackleton." 

From R. S. to E. Pike. 

"Ballitore, 7th of Eighth Month, 1756. 
"Dear Friend, 
" Whom I truly love for the sake of the excellent work which is in 
and upon thee, and the noble dedication of thyself to this ever blessed 
Cause, which thy fore-elders were above all other considerations con- 
cerned to support. In a degree of that union which endears to one 
another, those who are measurably baptised into the same Spirit and 
wish well to the same Cause, I dearly salute thee, and now, as at 
many other times, pray God to keep straight thy feet and strengthen 
thy hands. For I am sensible that great is the opposition in divers 
to the establishment of good order and maintenance of actual right 
discipline among us, and great is their envy and bitterness towards 
those who are engaged therein. They are exactly of the same stamp 
with the revilers and scorners in Nehemiah/s time, their dialect is the 
same medley of the Jewish and Ashdod language, and their speech 
is to the same purpose, tending to vilify the workmen and ridicule 
and disparage the work, ' What do these feeble Jews ? If a fox go 
over their wall it will fall down/ But by their great opposition to the 
building they manifest that they are afraid it will stand ; for if the 
work be so frail, they should rather pity the poor deluded workmen, 
suffer them to go on with their work and let time and experience 
demonstrate, whether the wall has been so weakly and injudiciously 
built, that it will fall of itself, or whether it will be an ornament and 
defence to the inhabitants within. 

" Read the book of Nehemiah, there is encouragement, counsel and 
information in it. It is observable he had both tasks to do at the 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 19 

same time, to build the wall and oppose the attacks of the enemy ; 
with one hand the labourers wrought in the work, and with the other 
held a weapon. Observe the constant watch he kept, observe how 
frequent he was in prayer. 

" So, those dear friends who are engaged in this work, who being 
in a good degree converted themselves, are minded to strengthen 
their brethren, those had need to begin at the right end of their 
work, and, first, as Nehemiah, make sure of their commission from 
the king, then take care that they have proper skill and materials 
for the work, that they carry it on in a proper temper of mind, and 
defend it with proper weapons. For a work may appear necessary 
to be done, but wisdom should direct as to the time, place, and 
manner of carrying it on. And when we meet with opposite spirits, 
thou knowest that we ought (and I find it very difficult for myself) 
to beware that the bitterness and brittleness of their tempers, do not 
sour and unsettle ours, and so that which was the cause of religion, 
become a personal pique. Let us speak no further than we our- 
selves can see. If we enter the lists let us be sure, so long as we 
engage, that we have on the whole armour which is light. 

" Though Saul was the Lord's anointed, and a king over his 
people, yet David could not bring down the ramping, vapouring, 
strength of Goliah, by going against him in Saul's armour. I own 
it is comely, proper and profitable, and a duty which we owe the 
Lord's anointed (his ministers) when freedom of mind admits, to 
show our good will to them and the cause they are engaged in, by 
attending them in the service of it ; and such young soldiers may 
reciprocally be a strength and comfort to their leaders, and be like 
armour-bearers before them ; but what I mean is, that such should 
be careful to mind their own business, and the particular part of 
the work set before them, and neither on the one hand be over zealous 
in espousing by argument any particular part of their leader's work 
(though probably right) which they themselves have not a clear 
sight of, for this may lead into unnecessary debates and disquietude ; 
nor on the other hand, omit performing what may appear their own 
duty, because a more able and experienced person is present, for this 
will occasion leanness and want. So, dear friend, in pure good will, 
and not from any apprehension of thy wanting a measure of best 
wisdom to regulate thy conduct, I have ventured to send thee this 
unpremeditated matter as it came up, while in a fresh spring of 
brotherly love and sympathy, I thought I found my mind enlarged 
to greet thee : and therein my dear wife and I tenderly salute thee, 

and bid thee most affectionately farewell 

c2 



20 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

" I am thy truly affectionate friend, who at times is enabled fer- 
vently to desire thy preservation and steady perseverance (as thou 
hast nobly begun) in every good word and work. 

" R. S." . 

In 1759, Elizabeth Shackleton's mother, and her sister Deborah, 
settled in Ballitore ; and, ultimately Richard Shackleton's three 
youngest daughters were placed under the care of Deborah Carleton. 
Few were better qualified for the care of young persons, than this 
amiable and excellent woman : she won their hearts and gained 
their confidence, made every proper allowance for them, and granted 
them every proper indulgence. 

Richard Shackleton's three eldest children loved his second wife 
with sincere affection, and her conduct towards them deserved it. 
Her own two daughters were treated, by their sisters and brothers, 
with that affectionate tenderness which young, generous hearts are 
wont to show those who look up to them with love ; and the care of 
their mother and aunt was found necessary, to protect them from 
that excessive indulgence which these young persons were disposed 
to give them. Thus was R. S. made thankful to Him who setteth 
the solitary in families, for having permitted him to form another 
happy matrimonial connexion. He, pursuing his onward path, and 
seeking first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, found all 
things necessary added — all things necessary for those whose desires 
are moderate ; and this is likely to be the case with such as are 
concerned to keep on their watch : they may hope to see what to do 
and what to leave undone, even in their temporal affairs. 

Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton, in the pursuit of the arduous 
undertaking, the instruction and care of youth, were imbued with 
that reverential fear, which is a blessing and a safeguard to those 
who abide under it. The advantage of their example extending far 
beyond their sphere in life, was felt throughout their neighbourhood, 
so that many of the higher ranks desired to cultivate a familiar 
intercourse with a man distinguished by his talents and learning, 
and a woman of so benevolent a character. But while they received 
such marks of kindness with respectful courtesy, they were not 
drawn by them from their allotted situation. Their time and 
thoughts were claimed by their duties, and they were the more re- 
spected for preserving this line of conduct. Industrious and prudent, 
yet casting their care upon Providence, they felt the shackles of the 
world hang loose about them. They were eminently useful members 
of our religious Society, with clean hands and discerning spirits, being 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 21 

well qualified to take an active part in conducting its discipline. 
Their duties to the children under their care were conscientiously 
fulfilled, of which the grateful love that their pupils retained for 
them is a convincing proof. Several of those who, while they were 
under their mistress's eye, had thought her too strict, loved her the 
better afterwards, even for this ; and many remembered, and we may 
hope profited by, the tender admonitions which she was wont to 
impart, particularly at the time of their leaving school, to enter into 
an untried world. 

When the varied business of the day was over, it was a comely 
sight to see the parlour supper- table surrounded by the master, 
mistress, their children, the young men who were parlour-boarders, 
the ushers, and the housekeeper, all on equal footing ; all equally 
at liberty to express their sentiments, or gain instruction and plea- 
sure from those expressed by others. Without losing the respect 
due to their own characters and situation as heads of the establish- 
ment, careful and observant of the conduct of all these, It. and 
E. S. treated them with a kind familiarity, which attached them to 
home, and precluded a desire of seeking more enjoyment elsewhere, 
which is too often the effect of repulsive manners. This social meal 
seemed to bind all more closely together ; the heads of the house 
saw the elder branches of their family collected, and they separated 
with mutual good will. 

To one who once belonged to this table, but who was then the 
father of a family, and advanced in life, the grandson of It. S. was 
introduced. He was politely received by the old gentleman, but his 
name once mentioned, all ceremony vanished : " Shackleton ! you 
are the grandson of my old master ! I loved him next to my own 
father I" then grasping both the hands of the young man, he per- 
mitted his heart to overflow in affectionate remembrance of departed 
worth. He afterwards thus wrote to one of the family : "It will 
be only with existence that I shall lose recollection of the numerous 
acts of kindness I have experienced from your father. He was my 
inestimable preceptor : he was my indulgent friend. I acknowledge 
my debt of gratitude, and shall ever be most happy in evincing it, 
and how highly I revere and respect his memory/'' 

The large establishment, and consequent plentiful table, caused 
the indigent to resort to It. S/s house. Perhaps they were relieved 
too indiscriminately ; but there was much care taken to inspect the 
wants of the modest poor : employment given to some, the sick 
supplied with medicine, and those who had known better days con- 
sidered with delicate attention. Old neighbours were taken into 



22 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

the family, occupations found for them suited to their age and 
weakness, their infirmities alleviated, their fretfulness endured, and 
their close of life rendered as comfortable as was in the power of 
their benefactors. One of these died in the house of the younger 
Abraham Shackleton, having, it was supposed, attained his hun- 
dredth year ; and another, who had served the three generations as 
steward, also died in his house at the age of eighty. Thus, in a 
comparatively humble walk of life, were generous and charitable 
dispositions unostentatiously exerted. 

Richard Shackleton was blessed with a cheerful, contented mind, 
conducive to his own happiness, and the happiness of all around him. 
He was prepared to adopt the language of the poet : 

" Ten thousand thousand precious gifts, 

My daily thanks employ ; 
Nor is the least a cheerful heart, 

That tastes those gifts with joy." — Addison. 

The fault of his temper was quickness, not violence ; but this 
was soon subjected to his judgment, and if he thought he had 
wounded any one thereby, he was ready to acknowledge it, with a 
benign humility which melted the heart, and disposed it to follow 
so touching an example. From his conversation young persons 
derived much instruction and delight ; and such was his solicitude 
for their eternal welfare, that he might almost be designated, " the 
apostle of the youth/' He seldom or never left home, for any 
considerable length of time, without paying farewell visits to his 
neighbours ; nor returned without greeting them at their own habi- 
tations. After a day industriously spent, it was his practice to 
retire every evening to his garden or chamber ; his countenance, 
when he returned to his family, bearing the impress of divine 
meditation. And before retiring to rest, he read a portion of Scrip- 
ture. If he was under difficulty or perplexity, the first thoughts 
which occurred to him on awaking in the morning were generally 
those to which he took heed, by which he was often freed from 
what had annoyed him. He had learned to cast his care on Divine 
Providence, in matters of less as well as greater moment. He was 
a kind and considerate master, being careful to avoid giving servants 
unnecessary trouble. He rose early, both in summer and winter. 
Neither he nor his wife were in the station of minister ; but in 
meetings for discipline, and in families, they were often concerned 
to deliver wise counsel, in words few and pertinent ; and R. S. 
sometimes spoke in public meetings, but, like his father, in the 
character of an elder. When he returned to our National Meeting, 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 23 

and delivered an account of his attendance at the Yearly Meeting of 
London, his words were delivered with such humility, sweetness, and 
brokenness, that the influence under which he moved seemed to 
overspread the assembly. 

He was freely given up to these services by his true helpmate, 
whose exertions to promote the good of all, united with his own. 
This pious woman assiduously endeavoured to alleviate the suffer- 
ings of body or of mind, which came under her notice ; and, as has 
been alluded to before, her nature, as well as her religion, prompted 
her to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction ; and in 
fulfilling these duties, she experienced that feeling so excellently 
described by the poet : 

" The heart which bleeds for others' woes, 
Shall feel each selfish sorrow less ; 
The breast which happiness bestows, 

Reflected happiness shall bless." — Cartwright. 

Being enabled to overcome evil with good, she was sincerely 
beloved, and seemed to be made a blessing to some who had at one 
time been prejudiced against her. With a solid and improved 
understanding, her simplicity was such, that it might appear not 
difficult for the artful to impose upon her ; yet it not unfrequently 
happens, that the single-hearted and heartless, more readily pene- 
trate into the characters and motives of others, than those do who 
are busy in concealing their own. Her grave manners tended to 
inspire awe in young persons ; but they soon found that these were 
softened by such kindness of heart, that love overcame every other 
feeling towards her. Sedulously attentive to the improvement of 
his pupils, Richard Shackleton's time was fully occupied with his 
employment, and he resigned to his wife the management of his 
farm ; not that he was himself averse to, or incapable of conducting 
it ; nor did it appear that any other person entertained an opinion, 
which he often expressed respecting himself, that he was fit for 
nothing but a schoolmaster ; but he knew his wife's capability and 
inclination for these concerns, and her willingness to receive advice 
from those who were experienced in agricultural affairs. She was, 
indeed, remarkable for this ; and readily waved her own plans, to 
make trial of what others recommended, though it often happened 
that her former practice proved to be the best. 

She was slow and deliberate in her movements and decisions. 
She not only provided for her household, combining therein economy 
with plenty, and attended to the various business of the farm, but 
superintended the building of several houses ; permitting nothing to 



24 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

prevent her fulfilling her duties to her three aged mothers, (her own, 
her husband's, and the mother of her husband's first wife,) to her 
children, and to the other branches of her family : the regular dis- 
tribution of her time, and the love of order, enabling her to accom- 
plish what few of greater activity, without these aids, find themselves 
capable of. 

She was an admirer of good poetry, but still feeling the limit 
which had restrained her youthful imagination, she justly feared 
the danger of transgressing it, for herself and others : thus restricted, 
the enjoyment, so far as it was permitted, was without a sting. 

Her husband, also, scrupulously endeavoured to keep his genius 
for literature in subjection to higher objects : if he had turned the 
bent of his mind to it, he probably might have excelled in poetry. 
Those who have no taste of this kind themselves, are in danger of 
mistaking their motives, when they condemn those who have. None 
who are sensible of the beauties of literature can despise them, how- 
ever they may feel themselves circumscribed in the indulgence of 
their inclination. On a winter's evening, Elizabeth Shackleton fre- 
quently brought those scholars who belonged to her own religious 
Society, into the parlour, to read her the Journals of Friends, as she 
sat at work. She was also pleased at hearing history read to her, 
generally by young students who were parlour-boarders. This em- 
ployment was the more agreeable and instructive, because she had 
an excellent memory and sound judgment. She entered into the 
characters of those held up to view, often supplied the thread of the 
narration, when it had escaped the young reader, and took a lively 
interest in the public or private events which were narrated. She 
persuaded herself that Caligula's reason was impaired by the fever 
which had seized him before he was raised to the imperial dignity, 
and therefore imputed to insanity, the apparent change of character, 
and the subsequent horrors of his reign. She lamented and blamed 
the timidity of Seneca, which deterred him from curbing the head- 
strong passions of Nero ; believing, that had he been faithful in the 
discharge of his duty, his pupil might have been awakened to a 
sense of his enormities, and the preceptor been longer spared to a 
degenerate age. It was natural that this fault should appear evi- 
dent to one who was herself religiously concerned to avoid it ; for 
she believed it was required of her, in many instances, to admonish 
those whose improper words or actions came under her notice. She 
spoke not of those offenders, she spoke to them ; though in doing 
thus she took up the cross, and often for a time felt it heavy ; but 
whatever the rank, or how little soever acquainted with the person, 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 25 

she must fulfil her apprehended duty, to obtain that peace, which, 
flowing as a river, amply rewarded such sacrifices. It need scarcely 
be added, that in these performances, her own will being laid aside, 
she was instructed so to speak, as seldom, if ever, to offend ; and 
we cannot calculate how much good may have been produced by 
those alms (if they may be so termed) given in secret. 

The manner in which Elizabeth Shackleton was strengthened to 
perform her duties, is thus described by herself. 

" Being sensible of my own inability, my dependence was on 
Divine help, which I had often experienced in times of need. I 
was favoured with understanding and knowledge for the business, 
beyond what I could have thought ; my careful, industrious husband 
assisting in many things belonging to my department as well as his 
own ; so that we were reciprocally helpful one to the other, sympa- 
thizing and bearing burdens one for the other, in our arduous 
calling ; and both being near of an age, and favoured, for many 
years, with a good degree of health, our success in endeavouring to 
do our duty was an encouragement, and our minds were preserved in 
a grateful sense of the gracious dealings of the Lord to us. And 
notwithstanding our close and constant engagements, so that we 
seldom left home on other occasions, we found it but our reasonable 
duty to attend the meetings for discipline to which we belonged, as 
well as Quarterly and Half-yearly Meetings ; also to show, by an 
exemplary life, the efficacy of the principles of Truth we professed to 
be led by, amongst the numerous acquaintance we had ; being 
employed by many who knew little or nothing of those principles/' 

An instance of this occurred, when a gentlewoman, on leaving 
her son, requested of Richard Shackleton that he might be per- 
mitted to read the Bible. He, amazed, expressed his surprise that 
she should place her child where such a request was necessary, assur- 
ing her that the Bible was daily read in the family. She asked his 
excuse, telling him that she understood that George Fox's Journal 
was substituted instead of it, by those of his profession. At another 
time, the son of a man of fortune was brought to his school by his 
mother, who, till she came to Ballitore, had never seen one of the 
people called Quakers. Elizabeth Shackleton queried why she 
brought her son among a people who were such strangers to her. 
She answered, that she had heard a good character of them, although 
they differed from the Church of England concerning baptism and 
the supper. This lad spent most of his childhood, and some of his 
youth at Ballitore, perhaps the happiest part of his life ; for when 
he lay in an American prison, dying of wounds received in a battle 



26 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

in which the British army (wherein he was an officer) was defeated, 
and the prison was so crowded as to aggravate the pangs of death, 
" If I were at Ballitore I should not be thus neglected/' were 
almost the last words he uttered. 

One of the pupils, an only child, died of the small-pox ; and 
Elizabeth Shackleton lost her own child, then also an only one, 
about the same time, of the same distemper. " This/' said she, 
" proved a trial to me, which I hope was of service, believing, that 
whatever afflictions are permitted to attend us, are for our good, if 
we make a right use of them, and more and more cast our care on 
Him who careth for his humble dependent children." 

A young man who had become K S/s scholar at a very early age, 
and spent most of his life with his preceptor, when he left school, 
expecting to pursue his literary studies, his father disappointed his 
prospects, by allotting to him a station in his counting-house. 
With a classical education, a superior genius, and knowing himself 
the only son of a rich man, the youth would not accede to his 
father's views ; and this unwise conduct brought upon him the dis- 
pleasure of his parents. The consequences of dissatisfaction at 
home are dangerous. He found them so : he sought pleasure else- 
where, and found vanity and vexation of spirit. Yet, though con- 
scious of errors which incurred the disapprobation of his former 
master, he turned to his house as to a home, and looked up to him 
as to a forgiving parent ; while, through all his aberrations, the 
strong affection and intimate friendship of R. S. followed him, and 
seemed the means of preserving him from greater evils, and of 
bringing him back to that conduct which made him beloved, and 
even exemplary, in the family. The purity and stability of E. S/s 
character fitted him for the Christian duty of winning the wanderers 
home, inviting and attracting to virtue ; and when his parents, 
becoming more and more obdurate, refused that reconciliation which 
he humbly and earnestly sought, even when the hand of death lay 
upon him, he found in the protectors of his childhood and friends of 
his youth, that care and tenderness which he so much needed. 
When E. S. was about to leave home, to attend the meeting of 
Dublin, and her languishing invalid was going to undertake a second 
journey to Mallow, unable to rise from his chair, he took off his hat, 
which he wore for warmth, and solemnly bade her a last farewell ; 
adding, "I die with more love to you than to any other woman in 
the world ; and you are more my mother than she who bore me." 

He died Fifth Month, 1771, at Clonmel, intending for Mallow, 
aged 24. 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 27 

The paternal care of R. S. left a lasting impression of gratitude 
on the minds of his pupils. One of them, now high in political and 
judicial station, gratuitously furnished his professional services to 
the son of his preceptor, in the course of a tedious law-suit ; and 
he bore this gratifying testimony to his memory, in a letter to one 
of his grandsons : "I wish I could have been of more use, being 
under great obligations to your grandfather, who always treated me, 
when wanting his care, with kindness and affection/' 

Thus was kindness extended to the third generation, after a lapse 
of forty years. 



CHAPTER III. 

A FURTHER ACCOUNT OF ABRAHAM SHACKLETON — SOME LETTERS OF ROGER 

SHACKLETON DEATH OF ABRAHAM SHACKLETON's "WIFE — VARIOUS LETTERS 

ILLNESS AND DEATH OF ABRAHAM SHACKLETON. 

We shall now return to Abraham Shackleton. After his release 
from the duties which he had faithfully performed in an arduous 
occupation ; he found himself more at liberty for the service of that 
religious Society of which he was a member. The Friends of the 
Monthly Meeting of Carlow in their testimony of him, given forth 
the 26th of the Second Month, 1774, say, that " Besides a con- 
stant regular attendance of the particular and general meetings to 
which he more immediately belonged, he paid frequent visits, in com- 
pany with Friends, to meetings in several parts of this nation ; and 
several times attended the Yearly Meeting in London, even in time 
of old age, and when natural strength failed, yet his spiritual as well 
as intellectual faculties witnessed no decay ; but many are living 
witnesses of the awful, reaching manner in which he used to rise and 
weightily express himself among his brethren, in that great and 
solemn assembly. He did not appear in the character of a minister ; 
yet, as an elder in the house of God, many times, in religious meet- 
ings, in the families of his friends, and among his own household, 
under the fresh anointing of heavenly dew, his words would drop 
from him with such sweetness and energy, as carried with them an 
evidence that they were brought up from the well of life and sal- 
vation, ministering grace and quickening virtue to the hearers. 
Beverent, awful, solemn, and reaching to the thoughtful beholder 
was his frame and deportment in religious meetings ; his humble 
spirit deeply and patiently waited, (sometimes watched and waited 
long,) for the resurrection of a Divine life ; when this was present, 
he had all things ; when this disappeared, all comfort seemed with- 
drawn. And, indeed, as he seemed beyond most men to take little 
satisfaction in any thing but the precious Truth itself, so, we believe, 
he was beyond most men favoured with the overshadowing of it. 
Beloved and respected by all who knew him, for his unblemished 
life and useful labours, he was to the last preserved in deep humility 
and diffidence ; preferring others to himself, walking among his 
brethren with all lowliness and meekness ; and exercising no autho- 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 29 

rity in the church, but in the fresh sense of the power of an endless 
life. Edifying and instructive, indeed, were his* words ; but still 
more so his life and manners. 

In the virtue of temperance he was an eminent pattern ; being 
remarkably abstemious in meat, drink, and sleep ; and was solicitous 
to enforce the practice of this virtue. He was much concerned at 
the practice, which many professing with us had run into, of con- 
tinuing at the table to sit and drink after meals. This he looked 
upon as a depravity crept in among us, borrowed from the world, and 
tending to a dangerous coalition with it, even to an union with its 
spirit, and conformity to its customs in some of their most pernicious 
effects ; beguiling from the simplicity which is in. the Truth, and in- 
disposing the mind for those heavenly refreshments, and that sweet 
communion, which our ancients were wont to be made partakers of, 
in seasons which they devoted to inward retirement, not to excess 
and intemperance, neither to the use of many words, in which there 
wanteth not sin. This evil was his great burden, and against which 
he bore a faithful testimony for several years by precept and example, 
being possessed with a godly jealousy, lest their table should be 
made a snare to many, and this practice should lay waste the in- 
heritance of succeeding generations in the Truth. He was also 
much concerned at a custom too prevalent among Friends, of un- 
covering the head upon entering a room, and was pained when he 
saw the youth or others in that practice : he used to say, that when 
he was a young man he durst not balk his testimony in this respect, 
though the cross occasioned thereby seemed as bitter as death. 

His spirit indeed was sorely grieved for the depravity and de- 
clining state of the Society ; he said that getting in and joining 
with the spirit of the world, and not dwelling enough in the little- 
ness and lowliness of mind which becomes the followers of a crucified 
Saviour, was a great hurt to us, and he feared many were hastening 
back into Babylon. Solid and exemplary in his own deportment, 
he was grieved when he observed levity of conduct or conversation 
in others, often saying, There was a fear that would keep the heart 
clean ; and expressed his ardent desires that his successors might be 
a generation to serve the God of his life in the land of his pilgrimage. 
By day and by night his travail in spirit was for the prosperity of 
Sion, he greatly loved to hear any thing good or commendable of 
his fellow-creatures, and uniformly discouraged all detraction ; closely 
attending to, and practising the counsel of his Great Master, who 
enjoined that we should in all things do to men as we would that 
they should do to us. He delighted in retirement, and for that pur- 



30 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

pose frequently walked alone in the fields. Even when he was in 
company, the interior travail of his soul was visible in his coun- 
tenance, waiting diligently and patiently for the inward and spiritual 
appearance of Christ, who, he said, was the Beloved of his soul. He 
often spoke of the necessity of our walking, as Abraham was com- 
manded, before God, or in His presence, that so we might experience 
perfection ; and [enjoined the] endeavouring to "keep the unity of 
the Spirit in the bond of peace."" Thus he continued to devote the 
evening, as he did the morning of his day, to the service of Him who 
giveth liberally, and upbraideth not ; and when from home on a reli- 
gious account, his mind was still tenderly turned towards those left 
behind, as appears by the following fragments. 

In the year 1760, Abraham Shackleton attended the Yearly 
Meeting in London, and addressed his son during its sittings, from 
which the following is an extract : — 

A. S. to his Son. 

"London, 2nd of Sixth Month, 1760. 

. . . . " There really seems a good hand at work, to gather and 
bring things into better order. Fifty-eight Friends offered them- 
selves willingly, to visit the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings in the 
nation ; and I hope they will have the hand of the Lord upon them, 
to work for Him. I thought my heart was a little like Deborah's, 
when the narrow path was not sufficiently occupied, and those under 
the profession of Truth had taken to by-ways, that my very heart 
rejoiced, and was with the willing in Israel, that offered themselves 
to the work/' .... 

To the memorable visit paid to the meetings for discipline in the 
nation of Ireland, the following letter refers. 

A. S. to his Son. 

" Cooladine, 18*A of Ninth Month, 1762, 

....." The Friends from England are, Samuel Fothergill, 
Jonathan Raines, Isaac Wilson, and William Rathbone ; some of 
whom signified they had been drawn from the nearest connexions in 
life by the good Lord and Master, to visit us, in this poor desolate 
island. The Master of our assemblies is with them, and the con- 
cern for our welfare, in the very best respect, is great. He is with 
them, even the shout of the Divine Majesty of heaven ; he is yet 
working and seeking by his instruments, and his good Spirit imme- 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 31 

diately also, to gather us near to himself. Oh ! that the children of 
men would keep steadily, deep to the root, that they might bring 
forth right fruit, to the honour of Him whose care for us is exceed- 
ing great ! As far as I could ever feel, none shuts a door in His 
house for nought, so rich a rewarder is he : his peace, my dearest 
child, is enough. Be careful never to be drawn forth into many un- 
necessary words ; may the right book of conscience be kept open by 
the finger of Him that sees and watches perpetually over us for 
good : may all our words and thoughts be brought thereto, that we 
may live to Him that is everlastingly worthy. 

" The public meeting comfortably ended. Isaac Wilson, and then 
Samuel Fothergill, laid before the meeting their concern ; and those 
that were not of the Society, I mean those that did not profess with 
us, were, in a prudent, tender manner, desired to withdraw. And 
all that professed, though not in strict unity, were desired to stay. 
Then, the men and women keeping their seats, the clerk was directed 
to read the eleven queries, audibly and distinctly. The overseers, 
in each particular meeting, gave a distinct, explicit, and particularly 
clear answer thereto. The Friends, in the opening of Truth, spoke 
excellently thereto. Words fitly spoken, arising from the unmixed 
life, are, I think, compared to apples of gold set in pictures of silver: 
the expression was more than verified. I do not expect to live to 
see another extraordinary visit of this nature, and I heartily wish it 
may have the much- desired effect. 

" A. S." 

R. S. to his Father. 

" Ballitore, 21^ of Ninth Month, 1762. 
" Dear Father, 

" We received thine, dated at Cooladine, and are glad that thy 
report of this extraordinary visit tallies with what we have already 
heard of that service. It is also a pleasure, and perhaps will be a 
profit to us, that thou art yoked along with them. Thy letter to 
my wife, from Kilnock, was particularly agreeable. I have many 
times thought, of late, of that king in Israel, whose heart so re- 
joiced in the testimony of his God, that he forgot the man and the 
king, and publicly exposed himself ; appearing with the outward, 
visible, and accepted signs of a priest unto God. And who were 
they who despised him for it ? Such as had not an eye open to see 
the beauty and dignity of the sacred function ; which was not less 
glorious, but more so, than royal majesty. But who are they whom 
the King will delight thus to honour with proclaiming his name and 



32 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

truth, and make the happy instruments of the salvation of others, 
and of their own souls ? Those who neither seek honour to them- 
selves, nor shun shame. 

" I am, with true respect, 

" Thy dutiful and affectionate son, 

" R. S." 



R S. to his Father, 
Then in the north of Ireland, with other Friends. 

" Ballitore, 20th of Second Month, 1763. 
Last post brought us letters from cousin Elizabeth 



Dale. She writes very sensibly about her situation. As you are in 
a province where these mixed marriages are so frequent, I could 
wish you had her letters with you : they might be of some service. 
She writes : ' To walk in a path of inward as well as outward afflic- 
tion has long been my lot ; nor have I any expectation of much 
alteration for the better in this life. Bereft, at times, even of the 
flatterer, hope, my inward situation is perfectly known to no one 
person. I am obliged frequently to appear serene and cheerful, 
when my poor heart is torn with conflicting passions. I have not 
a sufficient foundation in myself to support me under my daily trials, 
and my attention is too much taken up and engrossed with the cares 
of this world. I seldom get to meeting, my husband being unwilling 
that any business, though ever so trifling, should be neglected on 
that account. I have involved my poor children, too, in many per- 
plexities. May the Lord have mercy and compassion on them, who 
are innocent of my transgression, and direct their feet in the right 
path, which I have forsaken, and turned aside from, which has cost 
me my peace of mind ! Thou art a father of children — of daughters 
too. It is my sincere desire that they may be preserved from falling 
into the like error, and take warning from me, who have not had 
one hour's solid satisfaction (I believe) since I married. I once 
thought no power on earth capable of drawing me so far aside : 
secure, and confiding in my own imaginary strength, I dared at first 
to dally with the temptation ; and am convinced, by sad experience, 
that the most trifling digression from our known duty, is a very 
great advance to the contrary/ Thus she writes to me. 
" All our dear love to thee, presented by 

" Thy dutiful and affectionate son, 

" R. S." 



memoirs of richard shackleton. 33 

Abraham Shackleton to his Grandaughters, Deborah 
and Margaret Shackleton, at School. 

" Ballitore, 21st of Seventh Month, 1765. 
" Dear Children, 

" When I hear of the unfair walking of several under the profes- 
sion of Truth, (the very Truth of God ; a Truth that will stand the 
test, through all generations, to the end of time,) I am concerned 
for you, my dear children, that you may fully answer the end of 
your creation, by glorifying the Great Author thereof, and be lights 
to others, that they may safely tread in your steps, who are con- 
cerned to follow the self-denying Jesus, who bade his disciples to 
take up their daily cross, and follow Him in the strait and narrow 
way that leads to happiness. Thus your words will be few, and 
convey something profitable to your school-fellows. My ardent de- 
sire for your lasting welfare, not only your reputation amongst men, 
which is to be regarded, but that you may grow in favour with the 
Most High, whose presence fills heaven and earth, from whom 
nothing is hid, makes me think of the beloved disciple : ' I have 
no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the Truth/ 

" A. S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Ballitore, 4th of Ninth Month, 1765. 
" Dear Children, 

" Peggy's letter to your father, of 2nd instant, is before me • 
and it is pleasing to hear of your health and welfare, and will ever 
be so to us. I have been too much hurried with building up a part 
of my house, and live in fear of losing the sweet communion in- 
wardly with my Maker, which is by far the best treasure ; being the 
help afforded mercifully to us poor, short-lived mortals, for a pre- 
paration for a never-ending eternity. You know this, my dear 
children, and I hope are not unmindful of this most important point. 
Early piety, you have heard, is acceptable to God. Be sure, with 
all your getting learning, neglect not diligently to look for that fear 
which keeps the heart clean. 

" A. S." 

[The following are selected from the manuscript letters of Richard 
Shackleton, during the years 1760, 1763, and 1765.] 



34 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 



From R. S. to 



" Bailitore, 18th of Sixth Month, 1760. 
" Dear Friend, 

" 1 received thy favour of 15th instant, with a mixture of 
pleasure and pain. I was pleased to hear from an old friend of 
whom I have often thought and spoken with sentiments of regard ; 
but the style of thy letter not being written as by one of our reli- 
gious Society, gave me a shock, attended with a sorrowful pain. 

" I confess, my dear , from my earliest youth my heart has 

been attached to the welfare of our little community, because I 
found, even in my childhood, a more certain demonstration of the 
Truth, of the Principle which we profess, than all the councils and 
synods of the most learned men can produce, by mere human reason, 
of the several systems and opinions which they have invented and 
established in their own wills and power. And this most sure Word, 
revealed to me in my childhood, and since in the same manner re- 
peatedly confirmed, has caused that I could not but in heart wish 
well to the doctrine, though I too often (through temptations of 
youth, &c.) deviated from the practice. There are many arts and 
improvements by which wise and ingenious persons may deserve 
well of mankind ; but, certainly, there is no cause more noble in 
itself, and interesting in its nature, than that of true religion. We 
should therefore take especial care that whatever notions and prac- 
tices we are building up in our religious capacities, they be laid on 
the only right foundation, which may be abundantly proved from 
sacred writ, to be the immediate revelation of Christ Jesus, the 
Author and Finisher of the true faith. And if he be the Author 
and Finisher of it, what right has man's will or wisdom to meddle 
in it. Bow, dear friend, to his appearance in thee, and despise it 
not, though it seem ever so mean. Do not sell thy birthright of 
being a member of a Society which has been raised, preserved, and 
highly favoured by Almighty Power, for a name and a fame among 

men 

" Thy affectionate friend, 

"R S." 

From R. S. to . 



" Bailitore, 23rd of First Month, 1763. 
"Dear Friend, 
" I make no doubt but thou hast at times thought hardly of 
me, on account of the correspondence being dropt between us, yet 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 3,5 

I believed it failed on thy side, though it is true, my wife and thou 
have since exchanged a letter with each other: however that be, 
as I always thought, and still think, the correspondence of my good 
friends a favour done me, I have many times thought of endeavouring 
to revive that between us. And, indeed, I rather hope that such an 
intercourse between us would tend rather to good than any hurt ; 
for I think a frequent conferring together, and the having a passage 
open and the way clear for a friendly and brotherly communication 
of sentiments, and one another's feelings, would be found of more 
general service, if more generally practised : whereas distance and 
shyness between friends is not good, and does no good: yet still 
charitable allowances are to be made for spiritual exercises, worldlv 
business, constitution, habit and temper, which may any of them at 
times clog the wheels of a correspondence, where often inclination and 
disposition are not wanting. Some of these causes may, perhaps, 
plead our excuse with each other. But the main thing worthy our 
chief recollection is, how we have spent the intermediate space of 
time, and what improvement and advancement we have been making 
in the work of religion, for our own growth and preservation ; and 
in a capacity to be helpful to others, and to promote the Lord's 
cause in the earth, which can only be done by shewing forth his 
influence upon our minds by our lives and conversations among 
men, as well as, by the same influence, publishing the doctrines and 
precepts of his gospel. 

" For my part, when I consider the variety of religious professions 
that are in the world in general, and that part of it called Christen- 
dom in particular, when I think that they all err in this most 
essential branch of knowledge, and that even those who profess 
Christianity itself are quite out in laying the very first foundation 
of their building, and in learning the first rudiments of true religion ; 
and when I am led to believe that our forefathers in the last century 
were called, (after so many centuries passed in apostacy, error, and 
superstition,) to hold forth again, in their lives and principles, that 
most holy faith, even Christianity in its purity, which Christ Jesus 
taught to his immediate followers, and established on earth to 
remain to the end of the world ; and when I ponder that we are 
the successors in the same faith of those dignified ancestors and 
illustrious sons of the morning of our day, and that the same cause 
is now committed to us to be maintained in the same spirit, and by 
the same power, — I say, when these things are brought under my 
solid reflection, I am at times weighed down into the deeps, under a 
sense of the awful station I am placed in by the wisdom of Provi- 

d2 



36 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

dence, even to be a professor of this religion of Christ, so that I am 
ready to say, ' How dreadful is this place !' &c. 

" If then it is so awful a matter to profess this holy religion, as a 
private member of Society, how much more so must it be to be set 
apart as a chosen vessel to convey the quickening virtue of it to 
others ? How great degrees of purity and holiness are requisite 
here, not only in a private capacity, to be enabled to set an example 
of performing the will, but also in public and private to declare the 
whole counsel of God. These have not only the temptations to 
grapple with, which are incident to all in general, but as they are of 
particular use in carrying on this glorious work, the grand opposer 
of it plays his engines in a particular manner against them, and 
forms schemes deep-laid in the mystery of iniquity, that if he cannot 
utterly destroy their faith, he may render them less useful than 
Infinite Wisdom intended ; so rob them in some part of the weight 
of their present and future crown, and the church of the benefits 
which might accrue from the perfection of the gifts and graces be- 
stowed upon them. It is this enemy's grand employment, dear 
friend, to be constantly endeavouring to defile this vessel, through 
which the Divine intelligence is, at times, communicated to the 
people, and Divine life conveyed ; for there is no other excellence 
required in the instrument but that it be clear and clean. It seems 
to me, as though he had principally three ways by which he strives 
to effect this purpose. First, he would (if he could) entirely begrime 
the vessel or pipe, so that none at all of this precious liquor should 
enter it, but that which was once a vessel of honour should be laid 
aside as useless. Secondly, there is danger lest the vessel, though 
in a good measure clean, and free from filth of any kind, for want 
of being sufficiently imbued with the savour of the liquor passing 
often enough through it, should impregnate and adulterate the 
liquor with some quality inherent in, or accidental to, the vessel 
itself. And, lastly, the pipe may be polluted by the sediments of 
this same precious liquor, which should be entirely cleansed out, or 
will be like the manna gathered yesterday, and loathed by those 
whose health and appetite is good, and who can only be satisfied 
with wine well refined off the lees. I doubt not, dear friend, but 
thou hast anticipated, in thy own knowledge and experience, any 
broken hints which I can offer on this subject, though I thus 
indulge in an inclination of freely communicating my sentiments to 
thee. I own, I do above all things love this noble Cause, our holy 
religion, and I do believe that thou (among many others) hast been 
called and qualified to bear public testimony to it. I fear also that 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 37 

several who have been thus called, have by one means or other, been 
prevented from coming up in that degree of burning and shining 
lustre which was intended ; and so our poor Society has missed of the 
benefit which it so greatly wants, of the full degree and measure of 
instrumental help designed it, to its very great and apparent loss. 
My heart's desire is that all of us, who are touched with a sense 
that these things are so, may diligently wait at the fountain-head of 
wisdom and strength, that we may, by fresh supplies from thence, 
be enabled to come up nobly in the stations severally allotted to us, 
neither going before nor staying behind our proper ranks ; not going 
forth in the arms or habit of another, nor in the presumption of 
strength aforetime experienced, but with the effectual, though to 
ourselves and others, seemingly slight and contemptible weapons, 
which, for the time being, it shall please Divine Wisdom to furnish 
us with. So shall the Lord's strength be made perfect in our weak- 
ness, our own souls comforted and encouraged to go on trusting in 
the sufficiency of every present supply, and the church be edified by 
successful labour. I commit us both, my dear friend, to Him, who 
alone can preserve us alive in the root, and in his own time make 
fruitful in the branches. I do very sincerely desire thy preservation, 
stability, and advancement in thy own particular, and in a capacity 
to be more and more serviceable in the general, and am in true and 
brotherly affection, 

" Thy faithful friend, 

"B, S." 

From K S. to J. C. 

" Ballitore, 26th of Eighth Month, 1763. 
"Dear Cousin, 

" There are but few people proved with the possession 

of riches, that are of use and ornament in our Society ; we see their 
general conduct verify the remark of our great Lord, that it is hard 
for a rich man to enter the kingdom. To profess to be of the king- 
dom, to have notions about the kingdom, and the laws and polity of 
it, is one thing ; but to enter into it, and be indeed subjects of it, is 
another : this indeed requires much stripping and deep humbling. 
May we be so happy, dear John, me and ours, as to bow low enough 
to enter this kingdom ; I believe, we neither of us are much anxious 
about heaping up riches, yet both of us considerably encumbered with 
business. Let us, therefore, be careful to make the best use of the 
intervals of recess from the hurry of business, and mind to endeavour 
(as a friend wrote,) to keep up the daily sacrifice. It is hard to be 



38 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

much in the world of business, without being somewhat tinctured 
with it. There is need, therefore, of the renewing of the baptism 
of water and the Spirit, (or in other terms spiritual water,) to cleanse 
from every defilement of flesh and spirit, and there is need of a 
renewing of the unction of Truth, to teach us all things which con- 
cern ourselves and others 

" I am, dear John, very affectionately thine, 

"R. S." 

From R. S. to D. C. 

" Ballitore, Uth of Third Month, 1765. 
" Dear Cousin D. 
" My wife received thy agreeable letter of 18th ult., and on perus- 
ing it, I felt something of near unity and sympathy with thee. I 
am glad when I see the stretching forth of the crook of the Shep- 
herd of Israel to gather into his fold ; and I believe thou and my 
dear friend, thy husband, are objects of his peculiar regard and 
favour, whom he will bless in a still more abundant manner, if you 
steadily, humbly and diligently, wait to feel the renewings of his 
sacred baptism, to keep your own hearts clean, and to qualify you 
for the posts and stations allotted you in his house. May we never, 
my dear friend, by our own doing, or not doing, defeat his gracious 
purposes towards us, or come short of the measure of the stature 
which his goodness and wisdom designs us. Let others, if they will, 
be great in the world, and seek the friendship and grandeur of it ; if 
they succeed in their pursuit, and obtain all of it that they aim at, 
their happiness is embittered with many a surfeiting care, and their 
rest (such as it is,) disturbed with many an anxious alloy. Let us, 
dear D., ever covet to have our minds clothed with humility ; in 
this state, we shall most comfortably enjoy the various blessings of 
this life, with which our great and good Benefactor has mercifully 
favoured us, and in this state only, we shall or can be prepared to 
receive the unmixed happiness of the earnest of that life which is to 
come. I salute you both, dear friends, in much affection, and what- 
ever becomes of me, surrounded with besetments of various kinds, I 
heartily wish you well on your way, that ye may grow eminent and 
useful instruments in the good hand of Him that hath visited you, 
and watches over you, that your lives may be full of successful and 

honourable labour, and your latter ends full of peace 

" Thy truly affectionate friend and kinsman, 

"R. S." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 39 

On the 11th of the Fourth Month, 1766, died Rachel Carleton, 
aged 78. Of this respectable woman, thus speaks her daughter 
Shackleton : — " My mother went through much trouble for a great 
part of her life, which seemed to be allotted in great mercy, as she 
had something in her nature high, though a prudent, careful woman 
in managing her household aifairs, and in training her children ; 
very much against dishonourable conduct in those who professed the 
Truth ; and was, I believe, more in substance than in show. Towards 
the latter part of her life, she seemed gradually to be brought into 
more of the simplicity, and was of a tender spirit, very grateful to 
the Author of all our blessings, for His kindness in making her 
latter days more comfortable than she could have expected ; my hus- 
band being an affectionate son, using his endeavours to make her 
happy, and the company of him, his worthy father and family, 
seemed helpful to her." 

In this year, also, died Roger Shackleton, the beloved brother of 
Abraham, who had at different times enjoyed the satisfaction of his 
company in their native land, and with whom he kept up a regular 
correspondence. Roger Shackleton was a person of solid sense, great 
worth and benevolence, much esteemed within and without the pale of 
his own Society. The Archbishop of York valued his character, and 
was pleased with his conversation ; and some of his flock complained 
how little influence they had with him, " whilst Shackleton can per- 
suade him to what he pleases/' He appears to have been a man of 
clear judgment, both in spiritual and temporal matters. In a letter, 
on his brother's opening school, after several judicious remarks on 
the best mode of teaching, he concludes : " And as to family charges, 
disappointments and exercises, to do the best is a duty ; but to be 
uneasy at what cannot be helped is a fault ; for this world, and the 
things of it, are mutable. So the chief thing of all, and the height 
of happiness, is to have the mind turned to God ; for the world is 
but the circumference, and He the centre, and the nearer to him, 
the more of self-abnegation ; which state I desire we may all seek 
after, and grow therein." 1725. 

The advice given to his young nephew Richard, deserves consider- 
ation. " Thou mayst tell thy son, I am glad to see he is so good a 
proficient in writing, and other learning ; and as to his casting about 
in his mind, that others, educated for school-masters, often, in some 
part of their lives, quit that business for others which offer, which 
he thinks is discouraging to one who thinks for himself, and is quali- 
fying himself to acquire a living by what he is, through care and 
study improving in. In the first place, I think it is enough for a 



40 MEMOIltS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

student to improve his time in what his genius and future profit 
directs, and when he is turned into the world he hath a probable way 
of livelihood ; and when anything falls in his way afterwards, that 
offers more liberty or advantage, he may embrace opportunities as 
others do, or have done ; and if in his other projects he should mis- 
carry, then his fund of learning is a relief which other miscarrying 
tradesmen may want. So that there is, even in the light he sees 
matters in, encouragement to proceed steadily. And I wish, as for 
my own children, that he may pursue the Truth, i. e., seek for the 
knowledge of it in his tender years : it is a better portion than an 
earthly inheritance from a family, or any acquired parts whatsoever, 
and, as it is preferable to all things else, it ought to be sought early ; 
and where it is found and attended to, hath a happy effect on the 
mind, in governing and steadying it, and in purging away all that 
is vile in the spirit or affections/' 1740. 

The account which he gives of the distemper amongst the 
horned cattle, in 1 748, conveys an affecting idea of that calamity. 
" Amongst horned cattle the contagious murrain spreads, and makes 
great havoc in this county, as it hath done for several years in 
other more southern parts. It is within two miles of this city 
(York.) In one town, about nine miles off, there are but three left 
alive ; and people go four or five miles, it is said, for milk for their 
families. The distemper baffles all human skill and precaution ; so 
that His hand who delights in mercy, is severe in judgment, no 
doubt to carry on the wise, good, and great ends of his providence." 

Roger Shackleton died the 6th of Third Month, 1766, in the 75th 
year of his age. 

The next letter, in order of time, is from 

R. S. to E. Pike. 

" Ballitore, 15th of First Month, 1767. 
" Dear Friend, 
. ..." A new plantation (as dear Ruth Follows says) is coming 
up ; may it come up erect and beautiful, and fruitful among the 
old trees, which have many of them lost the little greenness of 
their youth, and never come forward to bring forth much fruit ! I 
have had a little hope that this will be the case, and my soul has 
been earnestly solicitous that I may not hurt the cause, even the 
great cause of Christianity, in my short, limited day and age of the 
world in which my lot is cast. Neither is my wrestling confined to 
my own preservation only, but my strong cries are often in secret 



MEMOIES OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 41 

for my dear friends, who have favoured me with some degree of 
intimacy, that in their solitary sittings and sequestration from the 
false pleasures and deceitful spirit of the world, they may feel their 
minds to be comforted and strengthened with the visits of Divine 
love, to the gladdening of their hearts in their pilgrimage, and 
encouraging them in the Lord's work and service. I hope I am not 
forward to speak or write on such subjects, beyond the bounds of 
that freedom which is in the life, and I heartily desire ever to be 
preserved from it ; but this I can say of a truth (if from a person of 
so mean degree as I am, it can be any encouragement to thee) my 
spirit has very often had near unity in religious fellowship with 

thee 

" Thy sincere affectionate friend, 

" K. S " 

Richard Shackleton to Thomas Carleton. 

" Ballitore, 13th of Second Month, 1767. 

"Dear Cousin T. C, 

" I seem, doubtless, unmannerly or negligent, in never making 
any reply, in writing, to thy kind and friendly invitation to thy 
marriage, not at all writing to thee on that subject. Be assured, my 
silence has not been caused by inattention, nor want of affection ; 
but a multitude of affairs, of various kinds, and want of a fit dis- 
position of mind, not want of inclination, prevented. I now greet 
thee and thy spouse with my wife's and my dear love, and sincerely 
wish you health and happiness, and the renewed evidence of a 
Divine blessing upon your union. You are now joined together, I 
hope, by the ordering hand of Providence. You are advanced a step 
higher, into a more conspicuous station in life and business. The 
Author of every good and perfect gift has given thee, my dear 
Thomas, and I believe to both of you, a good share of natural capa- 
city, and the means, through frugality and industry, with his bless- 
ing, of procuring a comfortable subsistence. He has placed you in 
a great and populous city, where you profess his holy and saving 
Truth, among a large number of others of the same profession, who 
do not honour it as they ought in their lives and conversation. 
Now, my dear cousins, my mind is a little uncommonly engaged for 
your temporal and eternal prosperity, and I think I see the path, 
and the only one which leads infallibly to it. It is by humbly, dili- 
gently, steadily, and faithfully seeking to the Almighty Benefactor, 
for his preservation and blessing to be over and about you, and all 



42 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

that is under your hand. Strive not either to be or to appear great ; 
nor stretch your wiogs beyond the circumference of the nest, which, 
in the set ordering of all-wise Providence, is allotted for you. Rather 
live under, and appear under your ability, than over : you will ex- 
perience safety and quietness in it. The contrary is a temptation 
and a snare, and an inlet to many dangers of various kinds ; and 
often, with new beginners, lays the foundation of difficulties, strait- 
ness, and embarrassments, which they are sometimes never disin- 
cumbered of, till they are disincumbered of mortality. Let us take 
a little view, my dear friend, of the persons and families which have 
been up and down, during our short time of observation ; let us con- 
template them, not with an evil nor a pitiless eye, but with an eye 
to the ways of that all -ruling Power, which resisteth the proud, yet 
giveth his grace additionally and manifold to the humble. Let us 
centre down, and have our dwelling low, in a conscious sense of our 
own unworthiness, and insufficiency to direct our own steps and 
prospects, either as to the things of this or a better life, without 
his blessed protection and mediation. Be truly humble, my dear 
Thomas ; be frequent, and, as much as possible, constant in feeling 
after a capacity to breathe in secret after an acquaintance and com- 
munion with the Author of all goodness. Be exemplary in your 
conduct and conversation, and exterior appearance and deportment, 
as becomes the disciples, followers, and professors, of the religion 
established by Him who was meek and low in heart, and whose 
garment was without seam. So will you, in proportion to the purity 
of your intentions and the cleanness of your hands in His sight, gain 
the favour and approbation of Him who knows the heart and hath 
all power in His hand to bless or blast at His pleasure. 

"lam concerned and desirous, my very dear friend, that thy de- 
termined conduct may be such, now in the setting off in life, as that 
the good- will and approbation of Heaven may be to and upon it : if 
thou happily attain this, it must certainly be by being a pattern of 
humility, steadiness, and plainness, among thy numerous acquaint- 
ance in that city. This may occasion some trials, in which it will 
often be proved whether thy attachment to the testimony of Truth, 
or to the spirit of the world, is most prevalent. According to the 
free-will choice which thou wilt be enabled to make, will thy ability 
to proceed aright be strengthened or weakened, and finally the one 
side or the other get the victory. The day of small things, and of 
little requirings of duty, proportioned to the state of children, is by 
no means to be despised. The cross to our own depraved wills is 
often to be borne, and many old friendships, connexions, habits, and 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 43 

propensities, of a hurtful or unprofitable nature, will be dissolved or 
decay ; in the room of which, new desires and affections, new inti- 
macies and society will gradually be formed. But in all that he 
throws down, as well as in all that he builds up, the Lord Almighty, 
as we rely upon him, and are faithful to his discoveries, will be found 
to do every thing right, and for our good, every manner of way. 

" I might perhaps write more on this subject, but I should rather 
be under than over. I most heartily commend thee and thy dear 
wife to the Grace and good Spirit, Guide and Comforter in your own 
hearts, which is of itself entirely sufficient to lead you safely through 
this dangerous and troublesome world, to everlasting happiness ; 
and which I hope will seal in your minds to the rectitude of this 
little counsel, and to the sincere love and unfeigned desires for your 
welfare, in which it is simply given. Indeed, it is not very usual 
with me to feel such a flow of earnest and solicitous wishes for the 
happy setting forward of any young couple of my acquaintance in 
life. May the right love and unity increase amongst us 

" Eemember us very kindly to your father, and believe me, dear 
cousins, your truly affectionate kinsman and sincere friend, 

« E. S." 

Thomas Carleton had married an amiable young woman. His 
father (Samuel Carleton) and his friends were much pleased with 
the connexion ; but how often are we taught that we have nothing 
certain while in mutability ? The hopes which S. C. had cherished 
for his declining years, were suddenly destroyed by the death of his 
son, who was taken off' by a fever, in about a year after his marriage. 
The heart of the disconsolate father rested on the amiable young 
widow ; but, in the course of another year, he had to resign her also 
to an early grave, she having fallen into a decline soon after the 
death of her husband. 

Abraham Shackleton having gone to attend the Yearly Meeting 
in London, was there taken ill. The following letter is from 

" Crewgate, five miles from Namptwich, 
" at the house of a kind friend, Thomas Mullenas. 

"27th of Sixth Month, 1767. 

"My dear Son, 

" I was taken unwell in London, on First-day week, in the even- 
ing ; but, by the care of my kind friends, was so far recovered that 
I set out on the 1 7th, and got to Namptwich in Cheshire ; but being 



44 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

attacked there with an intermitting fever, my dear friend J. C, after 
watching and caring for me night and day for four days, removed me 
to this kind family, where I want no outward thing that I know of, 
for my recovery. 

" According to my present sense I am mending ; and may, if 
Providence, kind Providence, who hath not I hope left me destitute, 
please, set forward in a few days. 

"As J. C. cannot be prevailed on to leave me, if I should be re- 
moved by death, be sure let him not be at any expense from our 
coming to Namptwich. I wish his watching and caring for me, may 
not impair his health. 

" If I get not home, I am sure thou wilt cherish all in thy power, 
thy mother, my faithful wife and dear companion. And forget not 
her sister ; and I should think she might be placed with cousin 
D. Carleton : there is enough to do justice to every one. I have no 
doubt of thy care in all things. For thy son, I hope thou wilt have 
comfort in him, and in the rest of thy children : that will be only as 
they attend to the inward saving principle of grace and truth. My 
dear love to thy mother, thyself, thy wife, and yours, and to in- 
quiring friends ; wherein my dear and over-careful companion joins, 
thy affectionate father, 

" A. S." 

Abraham Shackleton recovered, and returned to his family, who 
were thankful for being spared this threatened trial. His valuable 
wife, who was some years his senior, and debilitated by rheumatism, 
could seldom leave her fire-side, where she received her friends with 
a countenance innocently sweet, and engaged in cheerful conversa- 
tion, denoting a truly humble mind. She at all times freely gave up 
her beloved husband, for the service of Him who had blessed them 
with his favour. Her long life was a preparation for a happy con- 
clusion. She was seized with a paralytic affection, which, in a few 
days, terminated in her decease. She saw her end approach, not 
only with Christian fortitude, but with Christian joy, saying, she 
" was thankful to have passed through the wilderness of the world 
with so few scratches/' She desired her son and his wife to take 
care of their aged father, and not let him work too hard, (for he 
loved to engage in agricultural employments.) She only regretted 
parting from him. The last night of her life, while he watched by 
her bed-side, she conversed with him on past occurrences, in a very 
interesting manner. The next afternoon, whilst he sat by the fire, 
he felt his mind so overshadowed with good, that he rose and went 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 45 

to the bed-side to communicate his feelings to his dear partner, but 
her sweet spirit had just fled : and the young heart of her gran- 
daughter Margaret, who was present, was also sensible of the sweet 
and sacred sensation ; and when some one wanted to soothe her, she 
said : " no ; it is not grief." She died the 4th of the Third 
Month, 1768, in her eightieth year : and Abraham Shackleton gave 
up housekeeping, and lived with Deborah Carleton, who took affec- 
tionate care of him to the last. 

R. S. to R. W. 

" Ballitore, 3rd of First Month, 1768. 
" My dear R., 

f< I heard with much satisfaction lately of thy being mercifully 
visited by a great and good Guest, and that thou had happily opened 
the door of thy heart and let Him in. This was matter of gladness 
to my mind to hear ; but in my secret solemn presenting myself before 
the Most High, when I found thee near to my spirit, and my soul was 
prostrated within me in humble petition and thankfulness on thy 
behalf, then was my joy more full. I rejoiced and gave thanks unto 
God, for that he was graciously pleased to visit the offspring and 
descendants of his faithful people, even in the remote land of their 
captivity, where they would inevitably have perished everlastingly, 
if his own right hand and arm of power, had not most providentially 
interposed and saved them from perpetual destruction. The God of 
thy forefathers, the Help, the Comfort, the Everlasting Husband of 
my dear friend, thy mother, hath loved thee, even when thou wast 
too much in a state of rebellion against his inward law ; therefore 
He mercifully plucked thee as a brand out of the fire. 

"The time that is past cannot be lived over again, the actions that 
have been done cannot now be undone ; but for the time to come, 
may it be thy daily and hourly care to use all diligence to live to His 
honour, who has been so good to thee, and to compensate for past 
omissions and trespasses by future watchfulness and obedience ! I 
trust from my feelings respecting thee, that the gospel net has caught 
thee ; abide then patiently and in stillness within its safe enclosure, 
and beware of seeking to get again into even the verge or outmost 
skirts of that sea of commotion and danger, out of which thou hast, 
in great mercy, been measurably drawn. Be inward in spirit, breath- 
ing in secret to the Father of spirits for thy preservation through a 
world thick planted with dangers and temptations. Look not too 
much out at the conduct of others, nor adopt their liberty as the rule 



46 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

of thy conduct ; good examples are too thinly sown, and too few 
hold a chaste conversation, coupled with the fear of God. 

" Some who are far advanced in years, and by their appearance 
and stations ought to be as way-marks to the spiritual traveller, a 
guide and assistance to him on his journey, are either turned back 
again in their affections to the spirit of the world, in one shape or 
other, or are as cakes half baked, having never thoroughly enough 
experienced the baptism of that spiritual fire, which would have 
made them complete in Christ, and fit for his use. I commend thee, 
dear R., to the divine notice and protection, heartily desiring that 
He who has begun a good work in thee, may carry it on and finish 
it to His praise, and thy own present and eternal happiness ; and in 
these unfeigned desires for thy welfare and preservation, my wife 
sincerely joins. 

" Thy affectionate friend, 

"R. S." 

A. S. to his Children. 

" Dungannon, VI th of Ninth Month, 1768. 
" My very dear Children, R. and E. S., 
" Though I am personally separated from you at present, I do 
not forget you, but am sincerely concerned that you may grow in 
grace, and the inward and saving knowledge of God and Jesus 
Christ ; who, I have in some small degree, at times, since I left 
home, been made sensible, would be a tender Father to his obedient 
children I should have been pleased with a more parti- 
cular account of the health of relations and friends there, than in 
my son's two last letters ; though, as to my own part, I oft find 
it safest to say and write little. At times I have been filled with 
fear for S. J/s son and daughter : do you feel for them and for your 
own. The temple of the heart ought to be kept clean and disen- 
cumbered ; the spirit of the world defiles and unfits it for the re- 
ception and abode of the heavenly Guest. 

" A. S." 

A. S. to a Relation. 

" Ballitore, 12th of Tenth Month, 1768. 

" It is certain, if we are not watchful and careful to 

step along in true fear, during our pilgrimage through, the wilderness 
of this world of dangers, we shall suffer great loss, and let an enemy 
into our habitation, who will sow one kind or other of evil seed, and 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 47 

suffer the loss of the unity of the Spirit, the inward Guide, which is 
the bond of such peace as far too many are quite strangers to, 
seeking only to gratify a carnal inclination. And sooner or later, 
they that do so must needs 4 reap corruption \ when they that sow 
to the Spirit, taking good heed to that unerring Guide, the experi- 
enced apostle tells us, are to ' reap life everlasting/ And the fruits 
of the Spirit are meekness and sweet peace and joy, even in this life. 
Such are preserved by the rod and staff, and are no strangers to 
the working out their salvation with fear and trembling ; and if they 
hold out in true faithfulness to the end of the race, will not be 
surprised without the heavenly oil in their lamps, at the midnight 
cry, ' The bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him, they having 
been so wise as to keep their lamps burning, and their lights (to 
others edifying lights) shining. 

" I remember, my dear cousin, I felt good, inward good, in thy 
house, and this certainly is the saint's food ; by this, the bread that 
descends from heaven, their souls are nourished up to eternal life. 
The poor in spirit hunger for this, and He that tries and knows their 
poverty, and the sincerity of their honest hearts, fails not to fill and 
feed them in due season, that they faint not ; for His goodness and 
tender mercies endure for ever. 

" Thou hast children : tell them where durable riches are to be 
found ; watch over them that they may be fruitful vines growing by 
the sides of thy house ; that so the Lord of life, who is continually 
watching over us for our good, may have babes to praise him from 
one generation to another. Oh ! that I could see, whilst here, the 
sweet-smelling myrtle and fig-tree succeed the thistle and thorn, that 
only encumber the ground, and bring not fruit, like trees of righte- 
ousness, to the honour of the good Husbandman, who is looking for 
fruit. Let us not, dear cousin, be unmindful to watch always ; and 
thus being preserved in our allotments, we may be of some service 
to our children and others, and have authority and true discernment 
to rebuke the stubborn, strengthen the weak, and comfort the feeble- 
minded, and be useful members of that spotless church, whereof 
Christ Jesus is the only head and high-priest 

" My son and his are a comfort to me in my old age, and join me 
in true affection for thee and thine. 

" A. S." 

A gentleman, whose extravagance and dissipation had reduced him 
to a languishing state of health, was surrounded by those who had 
not courage to inform him that his life was in danger. Elizabeth 



48 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

Shackleton was greatly concerned to hear this, and imparted her 
feelings to him by letter, as follows : 

E. S. to . 



" It will undoubtedly appear very strange to to receive a 

letter of this kind from a simple woman, and perhaps be a subject 
of ridicule ; but if thou knew what has passed in my mind within 
these three days about thee, I believe thou wouldst give some atten- 
tion to it. I heard thou wast very ill — not likely to be long in this 
life. I felt compassion and concern for thee, and would have been 
glad to be with thee at that time, that I might endeavour, if it were 
possible, to persuade thee to seek thy own good at His hand, who 
created thee in His own image, for a purpose of His glory, and thy 
own happiness ; gave thee strength of body, a rational understand- 
ing, a sufficiency of the good things of this life for thy own support 
and the relief of others, and, above all favours, a gift of His Divine 
and saving grace, to instruct and lead thee safely through life ; for 
the apostle declares, ' The grace of God, which brings salvation, 
hath appeared unto all men, teaching us ■ that denying ungod- 
liness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and 
godly, in this present world/ Now I desire thou wilt examine thy 
own heart, whether thou hast been thus led by this grace, or whether 
thou hast turned from it into wantonness, excess, and profaneness ; 
not regarding the fear of the Almighty, who is the dread of nations, 
and to whom thou art under so many and deep obligations ; who 
could have cut the thread of thy life when in thy full strength, if 
He pleased, yet has spared thee in mercy, to see if thou wouldst 
return to Him. And now, perhaps, the abuse which thy constitution 
has got may cause nature to fail, and thy body to return to its 
original dust ; when the part in thee which is of eternal duration 
must appear before the impartial Judge of quick and dead, there to 
receive a reward according to the deeds done in the body : therefore 
I beseech thee, as a Christian — as a fellow-creature — as one who 
has felt something of the terrors of this just Judge for evil, that thou 
wilt lay aside all intemperance. 

" Consider these things seriously, and humble thyself in the sight 
of the great Lord of heaven and earth, before whom kings must 
bow, and the potentates of the earth lay down their crowns ; that so 
thou mightst find mercy with Him who willeth not the death of him 
that dieth in sin, but rather that all should repent, return, and 
live, which is manifest in the expressions of the prophet. When 
personating the Almighty, he says : ' Wash ye, make ye clean, put 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 49 

away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do 
evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge 
the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come, let us reason together, 
saith the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white 
as snow ; though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool/ 
And though thou mayst have gone great lengths in that road that 
leads to destruction, yet it seems my business to persuade thee not 
to be discouraged, by thinking thou canst not find mercy from turn- 
ing to the Lord, who would have mercy, and to our God, who would 
abundantly pardon. 

" I have no view in writing these things, but the ease of my own 
mind, that I may be clear of thy blood ; and the good of thy im- 
mortal soul, whose welfare I wish as my own, and am thy true 
friend, 

"E. S." 
" Ballitore, 20th of First Month, 1769." 

It is said, that the person to whom the above letter was addressed 
was much affected thereby, and had it read to him repeatedly as he 
lay on his death bed ; also, desired that it might be sent to another 
gentleman, who, he said, needed such advice as much as himself. 

E. S. to Edmund Burke. 

"Ballitore, 16th of Third Month, 1769. 
" My dear Edmund, 

" I have been extremely deficient in not supporting a corre- 
spondence which gives me so high a pleasure, I will not say, (for 
that would be too like the insincere world,) does me so much honour. 
Since I received thy very obliging letter, I have been almost daily 
thinking of writing, but I wanted to put this and that disagreeable 
thing out of the way, that I might be free for the conversation of 
my friend. But I find I might as well think of putting my employ- 
ment out of the way, and giving the boys a perpetual holiday, as 
expect to be free from perplexity while I am a schoolmaster. The 
weight of the charge requires such a solidity of patient firmness to 
support it, and the minutise appertaining to it such divisibility of 
attention, that it is hard to say, whether he may be more properly 
called more than man, or less than man, that can be equal to the 
burden, or stoop to the drudgery of it. This picture of myself, 
which I may well draw with tolerable likeness, for I have long sat for 
it, will, I flatter myself, bring my situation to thy recollection, and 

E 



50 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETOK 

procure my pardon The declaiming about the badness 

of the times, is, in my opinion as useless as trite. I have not read 
or conversed enough to know whether these times be better or worse 
than the past. Every age has its own colour and complexion, and 
the present I hope not the worst. But as these countries in their 
turn, have come to be more civilized than formerly, and the lights of 
reason and religion are still rising higher and higher, so less allow- 
ance should be given for folly and vice. In the uncertain twilight, 
there may be a deception ; but he is blind or drunk that stumbles 
at noon day. I do not think I am very splenetic, and yet I con- 
fess I am not quite pleased with what little comes to my knowledge 
of my country and its rulers. I am afraid some of them are blind, 
and others drunk. Now, though these are objects of pity and 
ridicule, more than fear, when we have no connexion with them, 
yet we are in a deplorable and very dangerous situation, if we must, 
whether we will or not, be led, or drove by them. The blind we 
must leave to Providence to work a miracle upon ; but for the 
people that are intoxicated with self-conceit, and with an exalted 
station, to which fortune, not merit has raised them, I would will- 
ingly have the danger brought home to themselves : nothing so 
effectually makes them sober. 

" One thing in particular I have often thought of late, is much 
wanting, and the medley of government will never be right without 
it. Put in whatever other ingredients ye can, and still there will be 
death in the pot : the mess will not be wholesome food for the people 
till a disinterested love of our country be infused. Call me, as very 
probably thou thinkest me, an enthusiast, if thou pleasest, but suffer 
me to say, that till there be a stronger mixture of this virtue in 
public councils and conduct, they are not likely to be blest with the 
approbation of Heaven, whose overruling power and mediation alone 
can guide them to a prosperous issue. Self-interest is too generally, 
the beginning and end, the author and the finisher ; the first spring 
and ultimate aim in church and state. Nay, it is now become so 
general, that it is a garb publicly worn, and the man would be 
laughed at, that would venture to be out of the fashion. In my 
opinion, however, one little spark of true, genuine, disinterested 
virtue will do more good in diffusing light and heat around, and 
burning up the stubble of ignorance and corruption, than a thousand 
of those pitiful fires, that are smothered up with the filth and ashes 
of sordid gain. ' Ignes suppositos cineri dolosi.' I wish for thee, 
my dear friend, to be one of those lights shining in a dark place ; 
I crave it for thee in my solemn petitions, and I trust I am 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 51 

heard and answered. God Almighty incline thine heart to seek after 
that wisdom, by which ' Princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges 
of the earth ;' that this heaven-born gift may extend and exalt thy 
faculties, and influence thee to act so as to answer the just Witness 
in the consciences of all men, both friends and enemies ! Nothing 
but an unbiassed, single view to the honour of God, and a noble, 
disinterested love to mankind, will, through all the changes of men 
and measures, and all the capricious turns of favour, draw down the 
sanction of the Divine blessing on thy endeavours for the public 
good, ensure to thee that present and future heartfelt joy which 
results from a conscious sense of an honest discharge of duty, and 
transmit thy name and example in sweet memorial to posterity. 
This probably is not the proper style of a letter, be it so ; it is the 
language of my heart, and if this beats higher than the proper tone, 
it is the pulse of friendship, and a friend will pardon. As to family 
affairs ; no material alteration in out's since my last : only that my 
father has given up to me the land which he occupied, has reserved 
to himself a profit out of it, quitted his house and taken lodgings 
with my wife's sister, who lives at the Mill. This is on many 
accounts an agreeable circumstance attending both him and us. He 
is now at full liberty to cultivate my land at home, when he is not 
cultivating the minds of the people abroad by the excellent precepts, 
which he is qualified to give, enforced by that sanctity of manners 
and unsullied reputation, which give weight and authority to good 

counsel, and adorn a long and well-spent life Will the 

length of this, my dear friend, make some atonement for the length 
of my unjustifiable silence, and wilt thou favour me with a home- 
spun line, when bustle and business, and distraction are asleep, and 
Edmund Burke can step forth collected in himself to converse, in 
native familiarity, with his old friend ? Richard owes me the visit 
of a letter still. I wish him all happiness, and less laziness. My 
hearty respects to thy spouse. Quid puer Ascanius ? How does 
young Richard go on ? My son is grown a brave, lusty boy, and 
promises to be great relief to me in my business. My wife loves 
thee with sincere respect ; her best regards to thine. Accept of my 
father's warm wishes, and believe me, 

" Thy truly affectionate friend, 

a R, S." 

Elizabeth Shackleton also wrote to David Hume the following 
letter. 



e 2 



52 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

" Friend Hume, 
" The vindication of truth prompts me to address a man even 
of thy character — a man of great understanding, many acquired 
abilities, and an ingenious historian ; and I hope my reasons, for it 
will appear to be just, when it is considered that I am a member of 
a body of people which, I think, thou hast not represented in a true 
light, both in thy much-admired History of England, and in thy 
Essay on Superstition and Enthusiasm. What injury this people 
(I mean those called Quakers) have done thee, I know not ; but I 
know that, if they strictly adhere to the principles of the religion 
which they profess, they could not injure any man. Perhaps thou 
hast taken thy account of them from the writings of some of their 
adversaries ; but as the people are not extinct, but many worthy 
asserters of the cause which they maintain are still in being, and 
many volumes published, (whose authenticity need not be doubted,) 
fully and clearly manifesting what doctrines they hold, and that the 
practices of such as act consonant with their principles are agreeable 
to Scripture, and no way prejudicial to civil society : I think it is 
but just that an author, when he writes of this people, should be 
ascertained, from his own experience, or by right information, of 
the truth of what he writes, lest his work should be marred, and 
branded with the imputation of being written by a partial or pre- 
judiced person, and the reader not be able to judge of the truth 
of any part, when he knows some part to be false. It was not 
sophistry, earthly wisdom, or worldly interest, that raised up this 
people in the beginning, or has maintained them to this day ; 
but the power of the Highest, which continues to be the support 
and sufficiency of those amongst them, who submit themselves, in 
sincerity and humility of heart, to be ruled by it ; and it leads 
them to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, 
denying themselves of the lusts thereof ; which is the way the 
primitive Christians were led into, following the example of the 
great Author of the Christian religion, our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, who, when in His bodily appearance upon earth, took 
upon him the form of a servant, and bore the reproaches and 
scorn of the high professing Scribes and Pharisees, and, in order 
to redeem mankind from their sins, became a propitiatory sacrifice, 
submitting to the ignominious death of the cross, without the gates 
of Jerusalem. This we believe ; therefore cannot be Deists, as thou 
unjustly chargest us. We also believe that Christ is come the 
second time, without sin, unto salvation, and has been, and is- ful- 
filling his promise to his followers, when he said, ' I will pray the 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 53 

Father/ and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide 
with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot 
receive, because it seeth'|him not, neither knoweth him ; but ye 
know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you/ And 
with great reverence, and humble thankfulness to him, many can 
now acknowledge their being made partakers of this greatest bless- 
ing, the revelation of his will concerning them, which is their sanc- 
tification, as they obey the dictates of his Holy Spirit, grace, or truth, 
a measure of which (according to Scripture) is ' given to every man, 
to profit withal/ And though there are too many who make profes- 
sion of being guided by this Spirit, who act contrary to its leadings, 
having loved this present world, and being allured by its attractions, 
have returned into its spirit, customs, friendship, &c, and so dis- 
honour their holy profession ; yet we hope and believe that this 
truth will not be left without witnesses, but that if we neglect our 
own mercies, others will be brought to testify of the same principle 
as we have done. 

" I conclude by wishing that thou wert both almost and alto- 
ther such as those called Quakers, who act agreeably to what they 
profess ; save the reproaches and sufferings which they may meet 
with from those that know them not. 

" I am thy real friend, 

" Elizabeth Shackleton."" 
" Ballitore, in Ireland, Fifth Month, 1770." 

" As it is the duty of every man, misled by wrong information, 
to acknowledge and retract those errors which he has unadvisedly 
fallen into, I hope thou wilt think it incumbent on thee to examine, 
more minutely, into the religious principles of this people, which 
thou mayst collect from their own writings, particularly from a book 
called Robert Barclay s Apology, in their behalf ; and, being better 
informed concerning their tenets, that thou wilt speedily publish the 
truth respecting them : otherwise, I believe some of this people will 
think themselves obliged to publish a vindication of their own prin- 
ciples, from thy misrepresentations of them/' 

The Answer. 
" Madam, 
U I am very much obliged to you for the honour you have done 
me, in taking notice of any of my writings ; and I own that I have 
a great desire of justifying to you my intentions, at least in those 
passages which you seem to think exceptionable. When I said that 
the Quakers may, in some respects, be regarded as Deists, I thought 



54 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

that I was doing them the greatest honour, by putting them on the 
same footing with Socrates. Plato, Cicero, Seneca, and the wisest 
men in all ages. As that sect has shaken off the dominion of 
priests, who are the great corrupters of religion, and neglect all posi- 
tive institutions, they are led, almost necessarily, to confine them- 
selves to natural theology, at least where they are not irritated 
by persecution. Morality and a reverence for the Supreme Being 
become the basis of their principles, and scarcely admit of any super- 
structure. As to my historical account of the origin of the Quakers, 
I drew it chiefly from Sewel, who was of the sect. I have, indeed, 
a great regard for that body of men, especially for the present mem- 
bers. And I acknowledge that, even in the last century, when all 
the different sects were worrying one another, and throwing the 
state into convulsions, they were always peaceable, charitable, and 
exemplary ; and have, in every shape, deserved well of the public. 

" After returning you again my acknowledgments for the obliging 
terms employed in your letter, I remain, madam, your most obedient 
and most humble servant, 

" David Hume. 

" Edinburgh, 5th of July, 1770." 

Abraham Shackleton to Margaret Shackleton. 

Dublin, 30th of Fourth Month, 1769. 

" My very dear Grandaughter, 

" Thy welcome and acceptable letter was received. There are two 
worthy living ministers of the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ, arrived in this city from my native country ; they exhort us 
to abide in the littleness. My very soul, and every thing within me 
that is worth notice, says amen to it. I think I have been stripped 
to the very root since I came to town ; but, thanks to Him who, 
though he hides His face for a moment, will never totally forget His 
little flock : He appears in the needful time, and His hand is filled 
with consolation. Let Him be thy chiefest joy, my dear, and then 
thou wilt step wisely in thy pilgrimage ; little minding what people 
think of thee, if thou hast but the smiles of His countenance. 

" My health is much better this morning ; and if I should not 
live to see thee, and the rest of you there, who are near and dear to 
me, I trust, through mercy, to be gathered to the generations of 
those gone before, whose robes are happily washed in the blood of the 
Lamb. 

" I am, with endeared affection to thy aunt, brother, sisters, and 
my friends there, thine, " A. S." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 55 

A. S. to Deborah Carleton. 

"Dublin, 2nd of Fifth Month, 1769. 
"Dear Cousin D. C, 

" After a sinking, low, distressing season of inward poverty this 
morning, a degree of consolation springing up, and thou therein, and 
thy extraordinary care of me in my old age and widowhood, being- 
brought into remembrance, I venture to address myself to thee in a 
few lines, wishing thee better health than thou hast had of late, and, 
what I am sure is far more desirable, that thou mayst be favoured 
with Divine and heavenly peace : this is what sweetens all our bitter 
cups. 

" My health of body is pretty much better these two days, and I 
am thinking of setting forward with my friends towards the Yearly 
Meeting. Whether I may be favoured with strength to return to 
poor Ireland, is hid from me : I cannot see it. However, I desire 
humbly to confide in Him who is able to help to the last, and in 
every difficulty. 

" My dear love attends my grandchildren, and if I should not live 
to. see them again, I wish them well. They have tender and reli- 
gious parents and friends also to watch over them. Oh ! religion is 
a heart-work indeed : may we all diligently, in very deed, labour for 
that peace that passeth the understanding of the natural, unrege- 
nerate man. Our meeting is now quite over : it hath been a season 
of consolation and inward advantage, I hope, to many. 

" And now I desire, my dear friend, that grace, mercy, and peace, 
and the fruits of the Spirit, may be enjoyed by thee, and abundantly 
multiplied in thy breast. 

"A. S." 

K S. to his Father, (then in London.) 

"Ballitore, Uth of Fifth Month, 1769. 
" Dear Father, 

" We were much pleased to find, by thine from Chester, that you 
got safe over, and had such a ready passage. We should have been 
more pleased if thou hadst been a little more explicit about thy own 
state of health 

" It is true, my present situation is among the pots ; yet I am a 
prisoner of hope. I am indeed an impotent man, nor is there in me, 
nor in the powers of my nature, any capacity to crawl near the salu- 
tary waters, much less to impart of them to others. I can say of a 



56 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

truth, I am glad to see my equals, my familiar friends and acquaint- 
ances, become my guide, take the lead, and grow from strength to 
strength in the great Master's cause. It is my earnest desire that 
I may never injure it ; but having waded here through many deeps, 
(unknown to mortals,) I may be so preserved in my sorrowful pil- 
grimage, as that I may at last lay down my weary head in peace, 
and be admitted any where within the door of perpetual rest. 

" Thou wilt feel while at London whether thy strength of body 
and draught of mind seem sufficient for thee to make a tour into 
Yorkshire : if these unite, no doubt it will be a reciprocal satisfac- 
tion to thee and our relations there, to have that visit performed, 
and such an opportunity of taking a mutual (perhaps final, solemn) 
leave 

" With sincere desires, that if this attendance of thine at that 
great and solemn assembly be the last, it may be particularly dis- 
tinguished to thee by the renewed seal and evidence of Divine 
favour, making green, fresh, and signally honourable in thy old age. 
I rest, 

" Thy very affectionate, dutiful son, 

" B. S." 

E. S. to Joseph Jacob. 

" Ballitore, 3rd of Ninth Month, 1769. 

" Dear Cousin, 

u I think ye did very well to set on foot a Monthly 

Meeting visit in your province. I cannot say, but I would like to be 
where there is much good company : I would like sometimes to take 
a trip unnoticed and see how my brethren fare ; if I could get a 
little of the spoil too, it could not but prove acceptable. My dear 
friend, Providence knows all hearts, and sees where I am, with more 
just precision of view than I see myself. I trust He knows that not 
the love of the world, in any of its shapes, confines and limits me in 
every respect. But the great Lord of the seasons allots them to his 
inward, as well as outward creation with wise inequality. My winter 
is long indeed. You, my dear friends, joined together, in every near 
and dear covenant, may you experience often the tender buddings of the 
spring, and the warm beams of the advanced Sun of righteousness, 
that in due season ye may bring forth fruit to the consolation of your 
own souls, and the edification of others ! As for me, I seem at a 
stand ; but my prayers are often fresh and fervent for the preserva- 
tion of the visited of the Lord, that the destroying angel may not 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SIIACKLETON. 57 

prevail against them : this is the burden of my cry. For many 
have been called and made some right steps forward, yet for want 
of diligence in retirement, too often and too long together off their 
watch, an enemy has crept in, has industriously picked up much of 
the good seed, and sown his tares, which perhaps do not immediately 
appear, but grow up also in their season. By this means the pre- 
cious seed is either altogether choked, or there is such a mixture as 
renders the heavenly visitation in a great measure ineffectual to our- 
selves, and in its consequences, unprofitable to others. The great 
antidote against this bane is retirement. It was, my dear friend, 
in my heart, (on my bed, I believe,) and now recurs to my thoughts 
to recommend to you retirement : generally every day allot some 
little portion of valuable time to this valuable purpose ; perhaps the 
cool of the evening, (the hour when our Creator chose to commune 
with our first parents,) the time between day-light and candle-light, 
or at other more convenient season, either together or apart, as ye 
may best feel your minds disposed, — step from the world, and in some 
private place wait on the Lord Almighty ; I dare venture to say, 
ye will find him near to your comfort and to your encouragement in 
this practice. Ye will also find near to you the spirits of your absent 
friends, and a facility to put up your petitions for your tender off- 
spring. By this means, ye will keep up the daily sacrifice, your spirits 
will be refreshed, and enabled to go through the offices of life with 
more sweetness and alacrity, and will from time to time be purged 
from those defilements which adhere, as it were, by contact, as we 
necessarily pass along. 

" I am, dear Joseph, thy sincere friend, 

" B. S." 

From B. S. to Samuel Elly. 

"Ballitore, 8th of Tenth Month, 1769. 
" Dear Friend, 
" I am pleased to hear that thy health is rather better. We get 
many mementos of our approaching dissolution. I wish we may draw 
proper documents from them ; good and gracious is that Being who is 
mixing our cup of life for us with bitters as well as sweets, in order 
that we may not be tempted by the agreeable part of it, to rest too 
much contented therein ; but, tasting also of the unpleasant alloy, may 
be the less grieved to leave it, our affections be more weaned from 
it, and our spirits may have a keener relish for a state of perfect and 
unmixed happiness. Many certainly are the troubles of one sort or 



58 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

other which attend us. It is our wisdom, bur duty, our interest to 
seek diligently for ourselves that peace which overbalances them all. 
I sincerely and cordially desire that it may be the companion of thee 
and of thy dear companion, through the vicissitudes of this uncertain 
life, and be with you and us, especially at the close of all, when all 
other stays and helps will fail. 

" B, S." 

R. S. to his Son. 

"Ballitore, 4th of Eleventh Month, 1769. 
" My dear Child, 

" We leave our large family, and great charge, not for any private, 
temporal gratification, (which yet, at times, might be lawful,) but 
from as firm a persuasion as our state, &c, admit and require, that 
it is our duty, both private and relative, to go to these solemn 
assemblies, in order to worship our great Benefactor, to whom such 
homage is in all reason due, and to lend a hand or heart to help for- 
ward the general good of our community, in exciting to their reli- 
gious duties. On this solemn account we go. We leave thee, dear 
child, at home, expecting thy care and assiduous assistance in our 
absence. I trust thou wilt not deceive or disappoint us in these 
hopeful expectations which we have formed of thee. I often bow 
the knee of my soul, in prostrate gratitude to the Father of spirits, 
on account of the pleasing prospect which his goodness has afforded 
me of you, my dear children, being likely to embrace the offers of 
his merciful visitations to your tender minds. Prize them, I entreat 
and charge you, as your chief treasure : cultivate that field, and it 
will yield you a plentiful harvest, even the crop of all necessary, 
present benefits ; and, what is infinitely more valuable, of eternal 
life. Be sober, dear child ; be vigilant against a crafty adversary ; 
love retirement, practise it ; feel after something that is super- 
natural, to help, preserve, and comfort thee ; and thou wilt grow 
from one degree of grace to another, and in favour with God and 
good men. 

A. S. to his Grandaughter Deborah. 

"Dublin, 8th of Eleventh Month, 1769. 
" Thou art thy father's first-born ; may the God of her 



who proved serviceable to her people, dwelling under the notice and 
blessings of the Almighty, and under the palm-tree, bless thee in all 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 59 

thy undertakings, and make thee a good example in the family, and 
a happy instrument of good in the church of Christ ; and that the 
daughters of men, together with thy religious parents and friends, 
may bless God on thy account, saith thy aged, affectionate grand- 
father, 

"A. S. 

" P. S. — I hope to remain waiting upon Him that is waiting to be 
gracious to sincere souls, and feeds them, as they steadily look up to 
Him, with food convenient : they know His rod and His staff, and 
what it is to be fed with food convenient." 

R. S. to Joseph Jacob. 

" Ballitore, Uth of Second Month, 1770. 

" Dear Friend and Cousin, 

" Thy letter, though so long unanswered, was exceedingly welcome 
to me, and brought considerable increase to that nearness of spirit 
which I wish to subsist between and among us. Why I have been 
so long without replying has been occasioned by a variety of en- 
gagements abroad and at home, not by a decay of a friendship which 
I feel growing and strengthening from a root, that I trust I may 
without presumption call a root of Divine Life ; and it is my belief, 
that if Ave and our beloved companions, true helpmeets, be favoured 
to keep our dwelling in the Truth, we shall more and more be con- 
federated together in solemn league and covenant, and in united 
travail and laborious service. When I write to thee, I know not 
how to divide thee from thy wife. My dear friends, be patient, be 
diligent in spirit ; keep as much as possible out of the hurries and 
flutters which attend the busy, active life, and whatever ye omit, omit 
not to keep up the daily sacrifice. And as ye thus follow on to 
know the Lord, and wait from season to season to feel his hand upon 
you, ye will be dipped into a state of tribulation and sympathy with 
the oppressed cause of our Great Head and Master Jesus Christ, 
and ye will be made partakers of his sufferings. Shrink not my 
beloved companions, at these bitter cups and baptisms ; if ye deny 
him not when he is persecuted and reviled, if ye accompany him 
with fidelity to his place of suffering ; ye will in due time be made 
living and joyful witnesses of his resurrection in life and power. I 
am troubled in my measure at the situation of things amongst us : 
there are so few living witnesses of the Truth which they are edu- 
cated to profess, there are so many who have indeed been called and 



60 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETOtf. 

visited ; but for want of care and diligence on their parts to co- 
operate with that Power, which would make and keep their hearts, 
as the good ground, the seed of the kingdom is variously rendered 
fruitless and abortive, and there is not a coming forth in increase of 
strength, and answering the glorious designs of the Great Husband- 
man. It occurs to me just now as I write (without previous thought) 
that when I was last in your province, I heard some talk of choosing 
you, my dear friends, to sit in the Select Meetings. I know the diffi- 
dence and low opinion which ye have respecting yourselves, which 
might sway you to decline this office, and that you are too generous 
and sincere to make the reply, Nolo episcopari, in a formal cus- 
tomary manner. But take heed, dear friends, how ye resist the call 
of the church. Not only the Spirit saith, " Come/' but the bride 
saith, " Come," and the imposition of her hands, when guided by 
the Spirit, is of great weight and force. Give up in the simplicity 
of your hearts to what she requires ; look not about at others ; nor 
think what others may say : but be willing to become yet more vile, 
both in your own eyes and theirs. Humility is the only way to true 
honour, and if ever we come to be effectually serviceable in the 
Lord's hand,, we must be reduced very low indeed, and self become 
of little reputation. Many well-disposed persons (I fear) suffer loss, 
both as to their own states and capacity for service, by being too 
backward, not putting their hand to a little business in the family, 
which is obviously necessary to be done ; not caring to make them- 
selves particularly distinguished and exposed to observation ; but 
waiting for some other person more advanced in years, or more con- 
versant in these matters, to do it. But, perhaps, this is thy own 
business, not another's : and why should thou grudge thy little 
assistance ? Thou knowest not what encouragement thy stepping 
forward in thy rank might be to. others, and how acceptable in the 
sight of the Master, by whom actions are weighed. Neither canst 
thou be certain what detriment may not accrue from this little piece 
of service being left undone, or improperly done, through thy omis- 
sion ; and from the general weakness suffered by one person falling 
back out of rank, bringing discouragement upon others, and disorder 
on the whole. 

" These unpremeditated hints J just simply drop, conversing with 
my dear friends, and having that perfect love, which casts out all 
fear of offending. I salute you both with true affection ; I heartily 
wish well for your tender offspring. My wife joins me in these sen- 
timents for you and yours. 

"Thine sincerely, 

"R. S." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 61 

From R. S. to E. Pike. 

« Ballitore, 10th of Third Month, 1770. 
"Dear Friend, 

"It will, doubtless, be very lonesome for thee to be 

separated so long, and so far from thy husband, and particular cir- 
cumstances, sometimes attending, give an additional gloom to the 
prospects ; but there is a privilege, there is an advantage which the 
Lord's children enjoy above the children of this world. If those 
partake not with these in their pleasures, yet they have substantial 
enjoyments which the world knows not of. When the husband and 
wife are united in spirit, and their spirit is a little seasoned with the 
virtue of Truth, how sweet and comfortable is their union and com- 
munion together ! Separated in body, yet present in spirit, no local 
distance, nor external circumstance, can divide their fellowship and 
communion, as long as they seek after and live in the Life which is 
the feeder and nourisher of it. May this be the happy experience, 
as well as the diligent seeking of us all, for really in this world is 
trouble, disappointment, and deceit ; and it is our best wisdom, with 
all industry of spirit, to endeavour to ensure a possession in an in- 
heritance, a glorious inheritance which remains to the people of God 
for ever 

"Our dear love attends thee and thy husband, wherever he is ; we 
heartily wish his preservation, and the safe custody of Divine Pro- 
vidence, to restore him to thee safe and sound. 

" I am, with true respect, thy affectionate friend, 

"B, S." 

The following letter (without date) was written by Abraham 
Shackleton to Samuel Neale, previous to his embarking for America, 
whither he went on a religious visit, in the year 1770. 

A. S. to Samuel Neale. 

" Although I am one of the least of my Heavenly Father's chil- 
dren, several times since I saw thy letter to my son, I had it before 
me to salute thee with a few lines. I find He, that, in His abundant 
mercy and loving-kindness, when thou walked in the broad way, 
gratifying thy corrupt appetite, visited thee, and fastened the crook 
of love on thy heart, and reconciled thee to Himself, is now sending 
thee forth to call to others ; even to rebuke the disorderly and com- 
fort the feeble-minded, that many may be brought into the Shep- 



62 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

herd's fold, and experience true peace and fellowship with the Father 
and his Son Christ Jesus. I trust the Lord, who is leading thee forth, 
will be thy consolation and strength, and that thy dwelling-place 
will be in him, in thy passage to that once wilderness country, both by 
sea and land, by night and by day ; and may he arm thee, my dear 
friend, on the right hand and on the left, and anoint thine eyes with 
eye-salve, and give thee true discerning ; that thou mayst not be 
cast down on the one hand, nor be hurt by the flattering, fawning 
spirits on the other. It is settled with me to say, may the Lord of 
the harvest, who ministers seed to the sower, be with thee in thy 
steppings along, and feed thee with food convenient for thee ; keep- 
ing in a sense ever mindful of his instructive rod and his supporting 
staff, well knowing that the unity of the Holy Spirit is the bond 
of the saints' peace. I have been greatly pleased formerly, when 
favoured with thy company, to observe the watchful care that clothed 
thee, even in the times of enlargement and liberty of spirit, lest any 
word or unguarded expression should inadvertently pass, to wound 
or administer offence, in any wise, to the least babe in Christ. It 
is in true friendship I mention these things, w T ell knowing the mon- 
strous red dragon is as busy as ever with his tail, to draw down the 
bright stars from the heavenly habitation. 

"A. S." 

A. S. to his Grandaughter Margaret. 

"Dublin, 5th of Fifth Month, 1770. 

" My mind is mostly centred among those who are 

begging their bread ; and would rather be honestly poor, than 
filled with unwholesome food, and lose my appetite for that which 
nourishes the soul up to eternal life. At times I thankfully ac- 
knowledge, to the praise of the bountiful Hand that satisfies the 
hungry babes with proper sustenance, I have partaken with the poor 
of the flock, of what keeps me from fainting, and am encouraged to 
hold on my way in watchful fear. 

" I long that you may be watchful, and grow in the Eoot of Life : 
there is true and real comfort to be experienced. My love and best 
wishes attend you all. 

" Thy affectionate grandfather, 

"A. S.'\ 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 60 

K. S. to his Daughter Margaret. 

"Dublin, 8th of Fifth Month, 1770. 
" Dear Child, 

" I have thy agreeable letter : thy grandfather also received thine. 

We are in usual health. The concluding meetings are 

to be to-morrow. It has been with me as is usual in my attendance 
here. The several dispensations which we are under in our religious 
pilgrimage, may be compared (I think) to the various turns, roads, 
and lanes in a journey. I am at present, and have been for many 
years, in one long lane : when I shall get out of it I know not. 
The believer is not to make haste. The great point is to make 
straight steps, and keep steadily right on our way in the right road, 
without loitering, looking unnecessarily behind, or, in the impatience 
of our own spirits, pressing too hastily forward. Indeed, I find the 
road of this life so bestrewed with difficulties and dangers, and myself 
so exceedingly weak, and unable, by my own powers, to preserve alive 
my own soul, or even to succeed in my temporal transactions, by 
reason of my peculiar incapacity, that, under this sense, I cannot 
but commit me and mine, with great earnestness, to the protection 
and help of Divine Providence. 

" I have been several times a little in company with thy sweet 
friend, as thou callest her, (Elizabeth Pirn.) I have found my spirit 
renewedly and nearly united to her and her sister since I came to 
town. There are too few here of their stamp. Too many are taken up 
with foolish, trifling gewgaws, quite unworthy of the noble, rational 
mind, formed by its great Author for far higher contemplations 
and enjoyments. For want of spiritual exercise, they have lost their 
spiritual health ; they have no appetite for sound, wholesome food ; 
their vitiated taste must be gratified with something that gives a 
little momentary pleasure, but fills the body with distempers. 

" Thy affectionate father, 

"B, S." 

From R. S. to Joseph Jacob. 

"JBallitore, 25th of Fifth Month, 1770. 

" Dear Friend, 

..... " Oh ! my friend, throughout all our dangerous voyage 

through this life, let us steadily make for the port of heavenly rest, 

our eye ever and anon looking at the card and compass, whether we 

feel we are going in our right course, according to the will of God. 



64 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

I am greatly mistaken in the deepest of my feelings, if his eye is 
not in a particular manner over thee, and thy beloved companion for 
good : he has visited you with the day-spring from on high, he has 
filled your cups with his blessings, and surrounded you on all sides 
with his favours. Say, what will ye render to him for all his 
benefits ? Devote your hearts, my dear friends, to his service, who 
has called you, not to be idle spectators, but to labour in his vine- 
yard. If ye faithfully, and in perfect dedication, obey this call, a 
fight of afflictions awaits you, the world will despise you, and false 
brethren will lift up their heels against you : ye will eat, as it were, 
the bread of sorrow, and drink many a bitter cup. But what then ? 
The Lord Almighty will be on your side, he will cover your heads 
in the day of battle ; as ye persevere to fight under his banners, ye 
will find not only the enemies of your own houses, but the adver- 
saries to the cause of Truth, flee before you, and ye shall be enriched 
with precious spoil. 

" I am, my dear friend, very affectionately thine, 

From K. S. to his Daughter Margaret. 

"Dublin, 6th of Eleventh Month, 1770. 

. ..." I greatly desire the welfare of some of my young friends 
in a very particular manner : but the warfare between the Spirit 
which is not of this world, and the spirit which is of it, is great and 
difficult : the situation of some makes it more so to them. And the 
Being who is the Source of all our happiness in time and eternity, is 
a jealous Creator, demands (as is His just right) the whole heart, 
and will not accept of a partial sacrifice : He requires the prime, 
the best, a whole burnt-offering. Mayst thou, my dear child, 
steadily resign thyself in all humility to be guided in His wisdom, 
so wilt thou be preserved an exceeding great comfort to me, a 
blessing to the family, a way-mark, a good example ; and an ordi- 
nance of help to thy near and dear friends, whom thou lovest, and 
by whom thou art beloved. Thus thou wilt be preserved out of 
the evils which are in the world, and the perplexities, perturbations, 
and troubles consequent to them ; thou wilt grow from stature to 
stature in the experience of good ; and though, in taking this cup 
of life, (which is a cup of mixture,) thou mayst expect to meet with 
trouble, yet thou wilt still find and feel the reward of thy diligence, 
faithfulness, and obedience, to be peace. 

" My love to thee is such that I could willingly enlarge, but I 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 65 

am seldom in a situation fit for this manner of converse, when I am 
here. And besides, there is an unction which teaches all things 
that are necessary, Truth in the inward parts, to which I refer thee 
as the most sure Counsellor, fully capable to instruct thee in all 
things appertaining to thy spiritual progress, and to bring all things 
to thy remembrance in due course ; supplying abundantly the lack 
of instrumental help, and making up every deficiency to those who 
are acquainted with it : and without we become acquainted with it, 

all other advice and assistance will stand ns in little stead 

" Thy affectionate father, 

" R. &." 

From R. S. to Samuel Elly. 

" Ballitore, 9th of First Month, 1771. 
" Dear Friend, 

" As I thought you would be uneasy to know how my father is, 
I write pretty soon to let you know about him. His disorder is 
called a bilious colic : he has at times undergone a good deal of pain 
with it. We hoped that he was getting better, but he had a severe 
return of it on the 6th instant. He is again pretty cheerful and 
free from pain, but it seems uncertain whether there is not danger 
of a relapse. It is very affecting to see a man so far advanced in 
years, and so highly favoured by his great Creator, struggling under 
the pangs of exquisite bodily pain. It is a forcible document to us 
all, that in the time of reasonable health of body and tranquillity of 
mind, we be diligent to lay up a treasure which will stand us in 
stead against such an evil day. This treasure ye know, dear friends, 
is to be favoured with a capacity of access to Divine favour, which 
is all-sufficient to sweeten every bitter cup, and to fortify our spirits 
against every conflict, that of death the last. We yet hope it may 
be consistent with Infinite Wisdom to spare my dear father to us a 
little longer, but resignation is a lesson which we have all occasion 
to learn. 

" I suppose ye have heard, before now, of the safe passage of 
our friend, Samuel Neale, to the American shore. He writes me 
that he landed there the 1 8th of Tenth Month last, after a passage 
of eight weeks ; that he met with his companion, (Joseph Oxley,) 
Samuel Emlen, and several other Friends, on his road to Phila- 
delphia after his landing, to great satisfaction ; that his old com- 
panion, William Brown, received him with much cordiality, and 
looked as well, and almost as young, as when he was in Ireland ; 

E 



60 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETOF. 

that he understood that John Churchman and Susanna Lightfoot 
were well ; that a Friend, Robert Willis, had set out from thence, a 
little before his arrival, on a religious visit to Friends in Europe ; 
that two women Friends, Sarah Morris and Elizabeth Smith, were 
to follow in the spring ; that Friends there are very numerous, and 
seem a solid, weighty body — have an ear open to hear. He writes 
of his particular satisfaction and unity with his companion's service, 
very humbly and savourily concerning his own. I thought this 
little intelligence would not be unacceptable to you, my dear friends, 
in your own little corner, because I am persuaded you love the 
Truth, and the friends of it are dear to you. 

" I was glad to hear from his mother, that S behaves agree- 
ably, I hope he will continue to do so, to love home, love retirement, 
read, at his leisure from necessary business, the Holy Scriptures, and 
the historical accounts of the lives, conflicts, travellings, jeopardies, 
sufferings, and latter ends of our ancient worthies ; let him consider 
what gained them the title of worthies, and hath transmitted their 

names with such dignity to posterity. S has, and has had many 

advantages, which many have not been favoured with. In an espe- 
cial manner, I would have him be exceedingly choice of his company 
in that place : he has a faithful Witness within him, which will not ' 
fail to testify to his conscience, when he joins with any unsuitable 
company, or improper thing ; and which will also testify its unity 
with his conduct, and give him the comfortable sanction of its 
approbation, when he chooses the best company, and does that only 
which he believes in his conscience to be right. .... My sincere 
love and good wishes attend you all ; and in these I am joined by 
my honest wife, my father and children. Farewell. 

" R S." 

R. S. to 



" BaUitore, 19th of Second Month, 1771. 
" Dear Friend, 

"Manifold indeed is the loss which we should sustain by 

the translation of my venerable father, but the loss of his weighty 
spirit, exemplary life, and lively services in our poor, destitute 
Society, would be most of all to be lamented. A cause, dear friend, 
worthy the attachment of the most dignified natures, a mystery so 
glorious, that even angels have desired to pry into it. Christianity 
in its purity, undefiled with the mixture of worldly wisdom and 
superstitious ceremonies, hath been revealed from Heaven to our 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 67 

ancestors : they nobly stood by it, and faithfully kept that which 
was committed to their trust ; they have rested from their labours 
here, and are now in the full possession of the fruits of these labours, 
even life eternal. There still remains the same Cause to be sup- 
ported in our generation, the same conflict to be maintained with the 
grand adversary of our happiness and the corruptions of our fallen 
nature, the same and only effectual means of victory, and the same 
immortal crown at the end for him that overcometh. But where 
are now the combatants ? The multitude professing to walk in the 
way of Truth, are not in the way ; they are not spiritually minded, 
they mind their own things, not the things of God : hence a general 
indifference, as to the life and virtue of religion, has overspread us 
like a leprosy, our minds are not in a state prepared for that inter- 
course with the Divine Spirit, in which consists the happiness both 
of men and angels ; those gifts and graces which the Father of 
lights and spirits would pour out upon the living members of his 
Church, are withheld, and the shame of our nakedness is visible 
even to them that are without. Think of this, beloved friend, and 
let sorrow seize thy heart, because these things are so ; open thy 
heart to the convictions and judgments which are the preparatory 
dispensation to the reception of pure and unmixed good. : Open 
thy doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars V If 
I am not mistaken, thou art not altogether unacquainted with this 
work. Thou hast felt something of the correcting smart of judg- 
ment for evil ; thou hast felt the gentle drawings and invitations of 
the Spirit, alluring thee out of the friendship and familiarity of the 
world, and offering thee ' a place and a name in the Lord's house, and 
within his walls, better than of sons and of daughters/ Thou hast 
seen and felt the instability and uncertainty of the nearest and 
dearest temporal enjoyments ; and the great vacuum, the inanity, 
the insufficiency of worldly gratifications, to satisfy the aspirations 
and longings of an immortal soul, has at times been opened to thy 
understanding and view. Mayst thou, dear friend, ponder deeply 
where thou art, and whether thou hast in a noble, unreserved dedi- 
cation of all, obeyed the heavenly vision. Whether we seek great 
things for ourselves or not, our time passes swiftly over, our places 
here, will soon know us no more, and the Lord is determined to 
bring this evil (of death) upon all flesh, and that wonderful fabric 
of our bodies which he hath made, will he break down. Happy will 
it then be for those, who, (their lives being spent here in humble 
circumspect walking, and the service of the best of Masters) will 
have it said to them individually, ' Well done ! good and faithful 

f2 



68 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord V Excuse this freedom 
which I have taken with thee on this solemn subject : a conscious- 
ness of my hearty desires for thy welfare emboldens me to use it. 

" R. S." 

The last illness of Abraham Shackleton continued some months, 
with intermissions, which gave hopes of his recovery, but these 
hopes were soon overcast. He suffered great pain at times, which 
he bore with exemplary patience, saying, that he was mercifully 
dealt with. The National Meeting falling out at this time, his son 
and others of the family attended it. 

R. S. to his Father. 

" Dublin, 27th of Fourth Month, 1771. 

" My dear Father, 

" Though I am not agreeably circumstanced, in divers respects, 
for writing at present, yet I look upon it as my manifold duty to 
send thee a line of short intelligence about our meeting to-day, 
seeing thou wast disabled from being present in body with us. Thy 
absence, as well as many other vacancies which have happened, and 
the want of that solid weightiness which should clothe the spirits 
of those who sit in such a meeting, was cause of humiliation and 
distress ; yet I humbly believe, that a degree of that which only 
makes a living soul, reigned over all. The accounts received from 
the three provinces, were much in the usual strain of language, not 
worse ; but I think, if any alteration, rather more agreeable than 
of late. My brother (schoolmaster) John Gough, I hope, enlarged 
in his peculiar gift to general edification. Our friends, Samuel 
Fothergill and John Stephenson opened, I believe, in pertinent 
counsel and remarks, accompanied with gospel authority and evi- 
dence. The former had it in his mind to propose in the meeting, the 
holding of a general meeting of conference, collectively for Friends 
of both sexes, in which the London queries should be read, which is 
accordingly agreed upon, to begin at nine o'clock on Second-day 

morning We received Debby's letter this afternoon : I 

fear, that they will have trouble at home about A. W. ; perhaps the 
accession of his present complaint may hurry him out of his poor 
decayed body — may he have a place of rest prepared for the poor 
spirit ! The righteous hath hope at his death, a period that inevi- 
tably awaits us all ; and those who go off before us, precede us that 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACXLETON. 69 

follow by a very short interval of fleeting time My wife 

and daughter join in dutiful and cordial wishes for thy restoration, 
with me and many more. 

" I remain, with dear love, 

" Thy dutiful and affectionate son, 

" R. S." 

A. S. to his Son. 

" Ballitore, 28th of Fourth Month, 1771. 

" Son Richard, 

" He from whom we have every thing that deserves to be called 
truly good, this morning hath been pleased to open a little nook 
for poor me to sit and wait among his servants, that at times are 
mercifully favoured with some small degree of health and strength 
to wrestle for the blessing, and the continuation of a sense of His 
presence to accompany through their pilgrimage to the very end of 
it. Oh, my dear son, sincerity of heart is necessary, and is, I am 
sure, too much wanting amongst the professors of the very Truth, 
as it is manifested and revealed unto a small remnant in this very 
poor nation. Alas ! my son, in the sense I have at present of the 
declension, their number is become so very small, that a skilful 
child might write them. Methinks, while I see the tares the grand 
enemy has sown in this drowsy state, fastening to the weighty grain, 
or endeavouring to do it, and choking thorns and fowls of the air 
making sore devastation among the seed of the kingdom, methinks 
I see thee sitting close by the willing in Israel, whose hearts, through 
infinite mercy, the Lord is moving upon, and stirring up to work for 
him in the day afforded. Though at this time my mind chiefly points 
to thyself, I by no means forget my daughter, thy consort and fellow- 
labourer, to whom remember me dearly ; also be sure, with much 
affection, to S. F. and J. S. Nor do I want love for my other 
friends, to whom thou mayst present it. 

" Thy father, 

"A. S" 

" P. S. — Since I wrote the above, I have to acknowledge the re- 
ceipt of thy letter, and am much obliged to thee for the intelligence 
thereby imparted to us, and hope you there will still continue to 
remember us you left at home. I believe I should be exceedingly 
glad to see my endeared friend, S. F., if it should be so ordered 
that he came this way ; but much desire that nothing may unfit or 



70 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

render him incapable of attending his more weighty service at 
London, where I have understood he intends going. 

"A. S." 

R. S. to his Father. 

" Dublin, 30th of Fourth Month, 1771. 

" My dear Father, 

" I was favoured with thine of the 28th instant, and in hopes it 
may afford some entertainment, would give thee a further detail of 
our meeting, if I could remember it ; but as one billow succeeds an- 
other, so one exercising opportunity follows so closely upon another, 
in my deep wadings and weary steppings along, that I cannot 
always retain particulars in my remembrance. The meetings have 
been uncommonly large and crowded. It has been almost wholly the 
lot of our friend, S. F., to burn incense publicly. He is, indeed, 
carried on wonderfully. His Master dignifies him, and exalts His 
testimony through him : he is made like the shew-bread on the 
altar — some sacred symbol that is eminent, conspicuous, attended 
with a degree of glory, in order to attract and engage a people too 
much outward, and, if possible by instrumental means, enamour 
them with the beauty which is in the Truth. Such is the mercy and 
condescension of the Creator, who uses various means, in wisdom, 
that His creatures may not perish for ever ; and leaves all without 
excuse, that their perdition may be of themselves. The London 
queries were read and answered yesterday, in the meeting of con- 
ference of Friends of both sexes. Samuel was beautifully drawn 
forth upon this occasion, as usual. The public meeting to-day was 
very large, and Samuel was concerned in testimony, also feelingly 
and fervently in supplication. I thought the meeting for discipline 
in the afternoon yesterday was flat, this afternoon more lively. I 
have had pretty close employment upon committees, &c, so that, at 
home or abroad, there seems little rest to the sole of my foot. Neither 
is it in oil that I dip it when it does rest ; but if it returns to the 
ark of the testimony, and sinks or swims along with it, I may be 

satisfied 

" I am, dear father, 

" Thy affectionate, dutiful son, 

"R. S/' 

During the continuance of A. S.'s distemper, while it was any 
ways suitable for him, he struggled to get out, to sit with Friends in 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLBTON. J \ 

their religious meetings, waiting therein for a renewal of strength to 
his inward man ; and when prevented, by the progress of his dis- 
order, from attending meetings, he was visited in his own apartment 
by many Friends, to whom he was often drawn forth in sweet coun- 
sel, to the tendering of their spirits, under the influence of the pre- 
vious sense and power which accompanied his words. Many were 
the seasonable opportunities of this sort, and many the sensible, 
weighty expressions that dropped from him, in the course of his 
painful, tedious illness, which reduced him to very great bodily weak- 
ness. His flesh, indeed, exceedingly decayed, but his spirit was 
constantly renewed and replenished with heavenly oil, so that his 
lamp burnt bright to the very last ; and in holy confidence of a 
happy change, a little before his departure, he said to his relations 
about him, " I have no cause to grieve, neither would I have you/' 
Yet he mentioned, in true humility, that he had nothing to trust to 
but the mercies of the Almighty. His mind was often favoured 
with inward joy ; and one night, after much bodily pain, he was so 
filled with heavenly consolation, that, with a melodious voice, he 
said, "I am well : I feel no pain : I feel good. Oh, the elders ! 
the elders ! they should dig for the arising of the well of life, as 
with their staves in their hands. Spring up, well, and I will sing 
unto thee/' At another time, in a manner similar to this, he 
uttered these words : " Those that are faithful to the end shall re- 
ceive a crown, a crown that fadeth not away ; but rebellion is as the 
sin of witchcraft/' 

The night before his decease, a young man, about whom he had 
been several times anxiously concerned, being brought to his bed- 
side, though his speech faltered, he spoke in a living, sensible man- 
ner, with the authority of Truth on his spirit. And to one of his 
own family, who was present, he addressed himself in a most affect- 
ing and encouraging exhortation, as if taking a last and solemn 
farewell. The next morning, though his speech grew worse, he 
spoke in a tender and cordial manner to some of his family. Some 
of the last articulate words he uttered, were expressive of the help 
and comfort which he felt ; and even when his speech quite failed, 
his manner and gesture were such as those who were intimately 
acquainted with him knew he was wont to use, when his excellent 
spirit felt the power of Truth in dominion. He departed this life 
in great peace, the same day about noon, the 24th of Sixth Month, 
1771, aged 74 years ; and after a very large and solemn meeting, 
to which his remains were brought, they were interred in Friends' 
burying-ground, in Ballitore, 27th of the same. 



72 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

His son long felt and long lamented the loss of such a father — 
such a friend ; and that sorrow, which he indulged in secret, in the 
chamber where he had seen him die, sometimes burst forth at his 
own table, surrounded by his friends. The mantle of the departed 
worthy seemed to have descended on his son, who, deprived of his 
precept and example, endeavoured yet more closely to follow Him, to 
whose service both had been dedicated. 

Long was the loss of this exemplary and venerable man felt, even 
by a wider circle than his own connexions. On this occasion, his 
former pupil, Edmund Burke, thus writes to R. S. " I am heartily 
affected with the subject of your last letter. I had a true honour 
and affection for that excellent man. I feel something like a satis- 
faction in the midst of my concern, which I had not in the same 
degree before, that I was fortunate enough to have him once more 
under my roof before his departure. He was indeed a man of sin- 
gular piety, rectitude, and virtue ; and he had, along with these 
qualities, a native elegance of manners, which nothing but genuine 
good-nature and unaffected simplicity of heart can give, and which 
they will give infallibly, be the exterior forms what they may."" 

And John Griffith, in his Journal, page 274, 1760, says of him : 
" I met with my good friend, Abraham Shackleton, who travelled 
with me most of the time I was in that nation (Ireland). Of him 
I think it may be said, as was of Nathaniel : ' Behold an Israelite 
indeed, in whom there is no guile !' He was a great comfort and 
help to me ; and though he did not appear publicly as a minister, 
yet he would drop tender advice at times, in families, in a very 
affecting manner. His whole conversation, looks, and deportment, 
were so leavened and tempered with good, that I looked upon him 
as a preacher of righteousness wherever he came/' 



CHAPTER IV. 

LETTERS ON DIFFERENT SUBJECTS, BETWEEN THE YEARS 1771 AND 1780. 

From R. S. to Joseph Jacob. 

" Ballitore, 17th of Sixth Month, 1771. 
" My dear Friend, 

"I seem not to have any repository of my own, from 

whence I might impart any good thing, any spiritual gift. So far 
from it, I am so exceedingly reduced, so complete a bankrupt in 
my spiritual circumstances, so poor, so miserable, so beset and em- 
barrassed on all sides, that I never knew, heard, or read of any one 
like me. I am, or at least feel to myself, so weak at times, that I 
seem as if I could hardly hold, or stick together. Such is the person 
to whom thou unbosoms thy griefs. Perhaps this short recital of 
my state, compared with thy own feelings, may administer some 
species of relief, when thou findest that others are afflicted, tossed as 
with tempest, and not comforted, as well as thyself. Thou rightly, 
and I doubt not experimentally, remarkest that effectual relief must- 
come from the Father who seeth in secret. He made us externally 
and visibly what we are, and endued us with our several organs of 
existence and preservation. It is he who, (if we be as passive 
under his hand modelling and forming our minds, as we were under 
the same hand fashioning our bodies, of which we cannot make 
a single hair white or black) will construct, unite, confirm, and 
strengthen in his own time, the various parts of our inward man ; 
and will endue the same with those spiritual senses necessary for 
its preservation, and for its ability to act properly in the service of 
its great Creator. Oh my friend, awfully and wonderfully are we 
made ! My spirit, and I doubt not but thine and thy beloved con- 
sort's, is often deeply bowed in earnest, humble petition, that Divine 
Providence may so steer and pilot our several barks through the 
dangerous seas of life, that whatever wind from external circum- 
stances blows, whether high or low, prosperous or adverse, whether 
the waves be rough or smooth, whether storms or calms betide us, 
we may, enduring all with patience, waiting with quiet submission, 
not without at times a solicitous hope and longing expectation, be 
conducted safe at last into the harbour of eternal rest. Should 



74 MEMOIRS OF MCHARD SHACKLETON. 

every thing in the voyage be quite easy, commodious, and agreeable 
to our wishes, we might perhaps grow presumptuous, and by the 
interfering of our own carnal wills and wisdom, take our bark, as it 
were, out of the hands of the good Pilot, and run it against some 
rocks or shelves, where it might perish for ever. 

" My father seemed, some time ago, recruiting a little — rode out, 
and got to our meeting here, but has been worse again. He is so 
variously held, better and worse, that it is hard to represent his situa- 
tion ; but on the whole, it does not appear likely that he will recover. 
However Infinite Goodness, in the participation of which his soul 
clelighteth, does not fail him now in the time of utmost need. What 
I have gone through, in the prospect of such a help-meet in the dis- 
cipline of the church being taken from my head in this day, the 
Lord only knows. This, superadded to various other troubles and 
besetments, is as much, sometimes, as I can well bear. At other 
times things sit lighter, and the natural vivacity (like a little tem- 
porary sunshine) breaks through the cloud 

" I am, with dear love, 

" Thy affectionate friend and kinsman, 

" R. &" 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Ballitore, 9th of Tenth Month, 1771. 

" My dear Cousin, 

" I am favoured with thine of 26th ultimo, which was very ac- 
ceptable, save that it gave account of thy having been indisposed. 
I hope thy health is now better confirmed. ' Mens sana in corpore 
sano,' is a great blessing. Methinks thou and I are debtors deep 
for many capital favours. We have received good, manifold good, 
at the hand of a liberal Donor. Let us not repine if adverse occur- 
rences fall out to dash the cup of this life with mixture, and make us 
less in love with the potion, so that we the more willingly resign it 
when the appointed time comes. 

" Various, indeed, are the troubles which we may assuredly 
expect to meet with here, many a tender and endearing connexion 
and natural tie must be dissolved and broken. In our dealings with 
the world, we must expect ingratitude and vexation ; in our stations 
in the church, we are likely to feel pain and affliction. 

" It behoves us then, my dear friend, to seek steadily and deeply 
for supplies of the manifold and all-sufficient grace of God. By this 
only we shall know an overcoming those temptations of the enemy, 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 75 

those bufferings of Satan, which we feel in ourselves, and by this 
only we shall be furnished with wisdom and strength to discharge all 
our relative duties, both civil and religious, acceptably in the sight 
of the great Judge. My mind has frequently been much bowed 
under a sense of my own great weakness and insufficiency, and a 
consideration of the great work of this day, and the feebleness of the 
hands remaining engaged in it. Here is my present dwelling. Of 
myself I can do nothing that is good ; and were it not for those por- 
tions of time, which I think it my indispensable duty to devote to 
solemn retirement, and by which, I believe, my spirit is in some 
degree nourished and strengthened at the Root of Life, I think both 
faith and hope would be in danger of being lost. Such seasons of 
awful retirement, I trust thou and thy dear spouse also cultivate, and 
therein feel that holy cement which unites you still more closely 
together in spirit, and bows you, in all your faculties, into an 
humble prostrate submission to the Divine will respecting you, 
enlarging your hearts in ability to offer, with unreserved dedication, 
yourselves and all that is yours to the service of the cause of Christ ; 
this whole burnt-offering, made by fire unto the Lord, is the sacrifice 
acceptable to him. We abound (in our Society) with partial and 
temporary sacrifice, but the constant daily oblation of all is too 

much wanting. ' Hinc illce lachrymce/ 

" I am, dear Joseph, 

" Very affectionately thine, 

« R. S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

"Ballitore, 10th of First Month, 1772, 

" My dear Friend, 

" S. Neale writes us agreeable accounts from her hus- 
band, though he writes modestly concerning his own services, yet 
from the extracts from his letters, I think I perceive he has been 
eminently favoured. When a good gift is accompanied with prudent 
conduct in the receiver, the instrument is likely to be of lasting ser- 
vice. But be the gift ever so excellent, if that wisdom which dwells 
with prudence does not attend, though the gift may be continued 
for a while in degree for the edification of others, yet its effectual 
use is much curtailed, and there is great danger of the instrument 
being entirely laid aside. I have heard it said, 

' When words and deeds, doctrine and life agree, 
1 We then preach well : and not till then preach we.' 



76 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

Dost thou remember how Samuel Fothergill, in the last meeting of 
ministers, called out for ' Practice, practice, practice/ 

We were much concerned here about Samuel FothergnTs indisposi- 
tion ; desire much, if it be consistent with Infinite Wisdom, whose 
ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts, that he 
may be continued a while longer to the church militant, which (to 
reason humanly) can badly spare him. But what shall we say % To 
the Lord omnipotent we are to look for help and succour in every dis- 
tress. He alone never changeth, nor faileth, but abideth, the sure 
help, strength, and wisdom of those that singly trust in Him, and 
wait patiently and diligently for his appearance, through the medium 
of his Spirit, throughout all generations of men 

•" My wife, &c, join me in affectionate and cordial salutation to 
thee, thy spouse, and our dear friends there, who am, dear Joseph, 
thy sincere friend and kinsman, 

"R S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Ballitore, 19th of Second Month, 1772. 

" My dear Cousin, 
"I note thy plaintive language, as to thy own situa- 
tion of soul, and I mark with peculiar satisfaction the openness with 
which thou unbosoms thyself to me ; because I dearly love thee and 
thy dear spouse, and am glad that the friendship amongst us, planted, 
I trust, by a good Hand, and a right seed, does not seem to suffer 
decay, but to witness a revival from season to season. If the great 
Apostle witnessed bonds and afflictions to betide him everywhere, 
well may we expect to be at times bound in spirit, and not to feel 
that enlargedness which we at other times may experience. It is a 
day of general famine in our land, and I believe the very best suffer 
want. What have we then to do, but to possess our souls in 
patience, watching unto prayer, and a capacity to breathe in secret 
that Almighty help may be near us, and preserve us in the root 
alive in our affections to Him, and faithful to His cause, though little 
fruit may appear on our branches ? Ye have at home your family 
of innocent children. I doubt not but ye sit down at times in an 
evening with them, feeling after the blessing which makes truly 
rich, and, at times, select such portions of Holy Writ, or such his- 
torical accounts of the labours and sufferings of our ancient Friends, 
as are suited to the capacities of children. In this exercise, your 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 77 

minds being gathered to the gift of God in yourselves, I trust ye 
find a degree of peace and satisfaction. And if we stand devoted 
and resigned in all our faculties to do the will of our Creator, made 
known to us by the revelation of his Spirit, we shall surely be 
accepted of him, though we may appear contemptible in our own 
eyes, and even in the eyes of others. You will have had, I suppose, 
before this reaches, a visit from our dear friend William Hunt, and 
his companions. I make no doubt but he was instrumental to re- 
vive a degree of precious faith among the drooping spirits of some 
among you. When the transient servant is gone, may the perma- 
nent Master (the beloved Son) be diligently listened to, heard and 
obeyed in all things ! Then shall we be disciples indeed, growing 
from stature to stature in religious experience, till we arrive at the 

stability of pillars in the house which shall go no more out 

" I am, my dear friend, thine sincerely, 

" R. S." 

R. S. to John Conran, 

About to join the Society of Friends. 

« Ballitore, 12th of Fifth Month, 1772. 
" Dear Friend, 

" I have been favoured with thy very friendly and obliging letter, 
and if my correspondence could prove of any service to thee, my 
new friend and old pupil should be heartily welcome to the best that 
it might afford. I have no doubt but that, as thy letter very sen- 
sibly intimates, the first great work of the inward creation has been, 
in measure, effected in thee, and the great first moving Cause to 
every right religious sense, has said, £ Let there be light.' By this 
light I believe thou hast seen the great superiority which future, 
eternal happiness has above present temporary gratification, and 
thy mind has been stirred to aspire after the experience of those 
things which make for thy present and future peace. Well, dear 
friend, keep to this light, and walk in the shinings of it, and thereby 
thou wilt know, in the progress of this inward work, a being more 
and more separated from the darkness. Religion consists in know- 
ledge and practice, hearing Christ's sayings and doing them. Our 
great duty then is, diligently to wait on the motions of his Spirit in 
our own hearts, and faithfully to obey its requirings. It is not the 
accumulation of even right religious notions in the head, it is not a 
facility of writing or speaking about them from such conceptions ; 
it is not a good capacity by which we may give a reasonable plea for 
our religious sentiments and conduct, and by which we may defend 



78 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

them from the attacks of others — it is not in these things that our 
stability and growth in religion consists. We may be clear in the 
head, and yet deceived in the heart. While our eyes are roving 
about in speculation on these matters, an insidious adversary may 
lay snares for our feet, and he that thinks he stands, may too late 
be convinced of his weakness by his fall. Let us, therefore, my dear 
friend, walk cautiously and circumspectly as in the day. Let us 
keep in the child's state, while we are but children, waiting patiently 
to be fed in due season with food convenient for us, not seeking to 
be any thing in form or degree, but as the inward operative prin- 
ciple of Life shall gradually make us. The inward, as well as out- 
ward creation is, I had like to have said, infinite in its variety. 
Let us, therefore, not be so solicitous to model our conduct after the 
example of others, as desirous in simplicity to be what the Lord 
would have us to be. If we are passive enough in his hand to be 
squared, fashioned and fitted by him, there is no fear, but, that in 
due time, he will bring us into our proper respective places in the 
spiritual building, in his church. 

" In the mean time, let us keep a watch over the wanderings of our 
own imaginations, and know a limitation to them, as well as a bridle to 
our tongues. There is alaudible parsimony and frugality in religion, 
especially suitable to young beginners in this commerce. We should 
not be lavish of the main stock, but rather imitate the woman who 
took the leaven (received the precious visitation) and hid it in the 
three measures of meal, till the whole, body, soul and spirit was 
leavened. David also saith, e Thy word have I hid in my heart, 
that I might not sin against thee.' And the closer this is pent 
up in our own breasts, like fire in a close oven, the sooner and the 
more effectually, it will consume the chaffy and the transgressing 
(which is the combustible) nature, and then be as a flame of joy, 
purifying, keeping clean, enlightening and enlivening the mind 
through all its faculties. But I have thought that too free a com- 
munication of our thoughts, and disclosing of our estates to others, 
has rather had a tendency to make destitute and inwardly lean. It 
is like giving a vent to the oven, and protracting the time of the 
painful operation of his judgments, who is said to be a consuming fire. 

Do not, dear , mistake me ; I do not remember to have heard 

of thy being too communicative in this respect, neither would I at all 
dissuade from imparting a little of one's feelings (under a fresh sepse, 
and with a proper freedom) to a near friend. We are on all sides 
surrounded with dangers, and we have but the one all-sufficient help, 
which is the grace of God. As our spirits happily keep in unity 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 79 

with this, we shall be taught when and how to be free, and when to 
be reserved. This is the key of David, which locks and unlocks. 
This is that which alone qualifies to show forth by our tenets, lives, 
and conversations, that we are in reality Christians, followers of 
Christ. And after all is said and done, this is what those of our 
profession, and of all modes of Religion under heaven, must come to 
be led and taught by, if they ever come to be enabled to live accep- 
table in the sight of their common Creator, whilst here, or ever 
become prepared for an eternity of happiness hereafter. To this 
Divine Instructor, infallible Guide and saving Help, I heartily com- 
mend thee, and joined by my wife in dear love to thee, and good 

wishes for thee, remain, dear , 

" Thy affectionate friend, 

" R. S." 

From R. S. to D. C. 

" Ballitore, 1st of Eighth Month, 1772. 
u Dear Cousin, 

" I have a secret hope thy little ones will grow up to 

be a help and comfort to thee, and in order that it may be so, and 
that the Lord may delight to bless them, I doubt not but it is thy 
solicitous care, to watch over the tender plants, lest any budding of 
pride, or any wrong shoot, spring up and frustrate the gracious 
intentions of Heaven in any degree towards them ; and carefully 
and assiduously to nurture them up in that simplicity of manners 
and appearance which Truth leads into. Many parents, it is to be 
feared in our day, have been miserably deficient in the education of 
their offspring ; checking, hindering, and preventing that which 
ought to be cultivated in them, and cherishing, forwarding, and 
encouraging what ought to be rooted out and destroyed ; and hence 
it comes to pass that so little tenderness of spirit and amiable sim- 
plicity is to be seen in our youth, and very little of a succession of 
testimony-bearers is in prospect. One of the first temptations thrown 
in the way of children, after the age of infancy, is a little finer}' in 
dress, and the convictions of grace remonstrating against it being 
resisted, the reproofs of that Divine Monitor, (through repeated 
resistance,) become less forcible, less clear and less felt, and so dis- 
regarded too much ; and hence for want of faithfulness in the little, 
and in the early discoveries, there is not a right growth experienced, 
but the contrary prevails, and here is one great reason that the city 
of our fathers' sepulchre lies waste. 



80 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

" I write not, dear cousin, as doubting thy care in this respect ; but 
may it be our care, more and more, by example and precept, to train 
up our children in the way they should go, as the most probable 
means, with the Divine blessing, of preventing their departure from 
it in their riper years. And if there should in our families fall out 
some exception to this general rule, yet we shall have the comfort 
arising from a conscious sense that we have done all in our power, 
and are clear in the sight of our Great Judge, the Chief Shepherd, 
who committed this little flock to our charge. And being thus 
conscientiously careful concerning ourselves, and our own private 
families, we are drawn farther to look over the more extensive family 
of our religious Society, and as Truth gradually opens our minds and 
enlarges and sanctifies our understandings, we may find it our con- 
cern, to speak a word in the church, and in the families of our 
friends, by way of discipline, expressive of our own experience and 
feelings, reviving in the remembrance of others, the zeal and piety 
and christian care of our forefathers, and magnifying and making 
honourable in their eyes, the laws and statutes, the rules and minutes, 
and queries delivered down to us. This branch of duty, dear cousin, 
also I doubt not but thou hast looked at, but a contemplation of the 
extent and weight of it, and the want of helpmates in discipline 
have much discouraged thee from putting a hand to it. I am not 
for putting myself, nor any other more forward in this, or any other 
religious service, than the Master himself shall require, in whose 
hands are gifts and qualifications, which alone can edify his Church, 
and in whom alone is the right putting forth, and the times and 
seasons for it ; but there is in the Church, a form of discipline 
prescribed, and when we are at the stated times assembled for the 
support of it, having our own hands measurably clean, and our eye 
single to God's honour, and the welfare of our brethren and sisters, 
we find a duty in these matters naturally devolving and incumbent 
on us, as our reasonable service ; and as woe is to those who are 
called to the ministry, if they preach not the Gospel, so also woe is 
to those concerned in discipline, if they do not faithfully and honestly 
and assiduously support it 

" I salute thee, dear cousin, in much affection : I hope thou wilt 
soon write to us, for thy letters afford us a particular satisfaction, 
and renew much nearness in our minds to thee and thine. My wife, 
sister and children join me in the same kind salutation to you all, 
(my much respected friend thy father-in-law included ;) I wish you 
all the best of comforts, which alone is sufficient to supply, every 
want and deficiency, and to support and conduct us safe through 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 81 

the remainder of the various dispensations of good and evil yet 
allotted for us, to the end of our wearisome pilgrimage, and remain 
thy truly affectionate friend and cousin. 

From R. S. to Joseph Jacob. 

" Ballitore, 23rd of Ninth Month, 1772. 
" Dear Cousin, 

Thy advice of the arrival of dear Samuel Neale was 



very agreeable. Next comes an account that our dear friend, William 
Hunt, died of the small-pox, at Newcastle. So good and evil, (as 
we term it,) chequer the scene of this life ! May we, by being 
enabled to keep close to the all-sufficient grace of God, (the appointed 
means of salvation,) so walk here, as that our spirits may have 
society and fellowship with the generations of the just hereafter ! 
The useful, experienced, qualified members of the Church militant, 
recede, and yield up, not the Cause, but their natural lives, not to 
the enemy, but to death ; they depart, indeed, not as vanquished, 
but triumphing, leaving memorials and waymarks behind them, that 
we also, who remain a little longer, may so fight as to get the 
victory, so run as to obtain the prize. While I write, I greet in 
near unity of spirit thee and thy dear wife. Ye have been sensible, 
(I am persuaded), of the call of the Lord, and the call of his Church, 
to come, to come forward in higher degrees of spiritual attainment 
and Divine favour, to ascend still more the holy height : ye have also 
been thus called, I believe, to take your share of the burden, weight 
of exercise and painful labour, which attend both the passive bear- 
ing and the active meddling with disorderly walkers, and the dis- 
cipline of the Church, and I doubt not but ye have in measure 
obeyed. Let us, my beloved friends, be deep, be inward, and bend 
the strength of our attention to this matter. Our stay here is very 
uncertain, and whatever part we act in this world, in this world we 
shall have trouble. If we submit in true humility and resignation 
to the power of Truth, so as that self become of no reputation, and 
we be willing to be anything or nothing ; then shall we be objects 
of divine regard and notice, and we shall find a sufficiency of best 
help to be near, to enable us to discharge one little duty after 
another. But if we withhold, keep back and preserve alive that 
which is appointed for destruction, temporizing and tampering with 
the spirit of the world, in any of its various modes of allurement, we 
shall be of the lame and blind, cripples in religion, not firm and 

G 



82 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

strong to bear the ark of the Testimony, not coming up in our ranks, 
neither helpful to others, nor comfortable in ourselves. In the day 
of outward ease and prosperity, the conscious sense of our remissness 
will prove a disagreeable alloy, and take off from the relish of the 
most pleasing sensations : and, in the time of adversity, it will add 
a sting to the sting of affliction, and embitter the bitter cup. I 
much desire, while I thus drop what just immediately occurs, that I 
may let the observations have proper weight with myself, and bring 
them home to my own state, for I seem surrounded with difficulties 

and dangers 

" Believe me, dear friend, 

" Very affectionately thine, 

" R. S." 

After the death of Abraham Shackleton, Samuel Carleton came 
to live with his cousin Deborah. 

R. S. to Joseph Jacob. 

" Ballitore, 22nd of First Month, 1773. 
" Dear Cousin, 
" I am glad to find that thy beloved companion continues to 
recruit ; I doubt not your gratitude for so signal a favour. I believe 
the eye of Heaven is over you for good, and that as ye are faithful 
through all the manifestations of duty, He will crown your heads 
with His favour, (which is more precious than any earthly diadem,) 
though for His own wise purposes ye may, as all His children ex- 
pect to, be tried in the furnace of affliction. Indeed the ballast of 
trouble is often necessary for our unsteady vessels ; and good and 
wise is the Gracious Hand which freights us therewith, along with 
the other lading which He mercifully bestows. The transgression 
of the law in the heart, whether by acts of commission or omission, 
is the great evil which we ought to dread and deprecate, that we 
may not be led into temptation, but delivered from this evil. All the 
rest it would be our wisdom, and conduce to our quietness of mind, to 
leave to unsearchable Wisdom, who knows best what is best for each 
of our various states, habits, manners, and dispositions. May the 
Lord strengthen and enable us to do his will, whether by acting or 
suffering, by striving or forbearing, for herein alone consists our solid 
peace and capacity to be of any effectual service in the Church of 

Christ Things are low, it is true, in this province, yet 

there are many hopeful young plants. Few nursing fathers and 
mothers indeed, to cherish and encourage them ; but if they take 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETOK 83 

root downwards, and receive their nutritive moisture from the 
nether spring, they will perhaps be full as hardy and as likely to 
sustain this winter season, as those which have been in times when 
there was more advantage of gospel-showers from the instrumental 
clouds. I greatly desire the preservation of these precious plants ; 
for much seems to depend on it, as to a propagating and reviving of 
the cause of Truth in another generation 

"I do not know where honest Robert Y/illis is now, but I suppose 
about Cork, where I understand the time of singing of birds is come, 
and the voice of young ministers is heard in their land. It is a voice 
which has not been very frequent of late years in this poor nation : 
silence has reigned much in our religious assemblies. There is an 
ear which can try voices, sounds, and words, and knows of what 
country each language is : and time must prove the stability of every 
birth. In this day of comparative darkness and gloominess, our 
silent meetings are often flat and heavy. If ministers be raised up 
by Divine Power, they will be as a flame of fire to kindle a general 
sacrifice ; but I think of the two evils, more tolerable is the heavy 
cloud occasioned by irreligion and spiritual indolence, than the dis- 
mal, terrifying flashes of a strange fire 

" My M ■, at the solicitation of our respectable friend, 

E. P ■, went to spend a few weeks with her. I had a letter from 

her yesterday, part of it to this purpose : — ' I was at meeting this 
day, where I saw John Conran. I guessed it was he before I was told, 
by the sweet solidity and composure which his countenance plainly 
indicates : his dress was also a little singular. I am sure I am not 
by any means a judge in those matters ; but I thought he looked 
like a person wrestling in spirit for the blessing. Few seemed by 
outward appearance to be so deeply exercised, though I perceived 
no visible emotion/ J. Conran had been a pupil of mine. I have 
had some sensible letters from him lately. I wish well for him ; 
and one thing encourages my hopes in a particular manner, — that 
my honest wife seems to have near sympathy and unity with 
him, and rather sanguine in her expectations that if he be faithful 
to the discoveries of Truth, which have already appeared to him, and 
obedient to the requirings of duty, which she believes he is already 
sensible of, he will be a useful instrument in the Lord's hand, to 
awaken the careless professors amongst us to a consideration of the 
profession which they are making, and to let them see, that if they 
continue in a state of spiritual sloth and supineness, that the nominal 
children of the kingdom will be in danger of being ejected, and 
others called in their room 



84 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

B. S. to his Daughter Margaret. 

" Ballitore, 2Uh of First Month, 1773. 

" Mayst thou, dear child, be preserved in simplicity 

and nothingness of self ; in humility and lowliness of mind, seeking 
diligently after, and waiting steadily for, the inward experience of 
that which is unmixedly good. This is the way to be helped along, 
from day to day, through one difficulty and proving after another, 
to the end of our wearisome pilgrimage ; having recourse, like the 
hunted hart, to the brook by the way, when pressed by our spiritual 
enemies. By this, my dear child, the predecessors in our family, 
who lived in the Truth, were enabled to wade through their afflic- 
tions, and knew that overcoming which entitles to the glorious, 
eternal rewards. Many are the favours which thou, my dear daughter, 
hast received at the hand of the great Giver. What need I enu- 
merate any of them ? thy grateful heart is sensible of them. May 
thy branches, weighed down with humility, gratitude, and all fruits 
of the Spirit, bend towards the Root which sustains every tree of 
righteousness, and from which its sap and life is supplied and 
derived. By humility and lowliness of mind, many temptations are 
avoided, and incumbrances escaped. It is a safe and quiet habita- 
tion, into which the devil cannot enter ; and his emissaries view the 
dwelling with derision, and turn from it with contempt. So the 
heavenly Guest has more free admittance, and uninterrupted abode ; 
and the bread eaten in secret, administers invisible but effectual 
support. 

" I am, dear Margaret, 

" Thy affectionate father, 

"R. S." 

From B. S. to Bichard Jacob. 

" Ballitore, 23rd of Seventh Month, 1773. 
" Dear Bichard, 
" I received thine of 16th ultimo, which I took kind. Thy 

brothers and cousins are, through mercy, well. My daughter M 

has been much indisposed, but has recruited finely. Health is a 
valuable blessing, which is often not sufficiently prized, till the want 
of it is experienced. I wish thou mayst take care of thine, as thy 
constitution is but delicate. Be sober, be temperate, it is good for 
mind and body. Temperance is an excellent virtue, it consists in a 
dominion over our passions and inordinate affections : this predomi- 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 85 

nating, we are cool and quiet, not rash and hasty, we see things in a 
just light, and act steadily and deliberately. 

Thou art the eldest, dear Richard, of a numerous flock : thy 
present stepping before them may be of great service : the example 
of youth has great influence on youth, and it is exceedingly beautiful 
to see the eldest child of a family, by his wise walking, mark out a 
track which the younger may safely follow through life. This virtue, 
these good consequences, can only be attained by religion ; and if we 
would be religious, we must be humble. Humility is the stock upon 
which every Christian virtue is engrafted, if it ever thrives aright, 
and is of any permanent duration. Let, therefore, dear child, a 
consciousness of thy own unworthiness of the manifold mercies and 
favours which the liberal hand of Providence hath heaped on thee, 
weigh thee down into true humility, where thou wilt be fitted to 
receive those consolations and instructions, which will be thy effec- 
tual help, support and guide, through this perilous and uncertain 
state of existence. I heartily wish thee well on thy way, having 
particular attachment to the welfare of thy father's house. My 
family salutes all yours with much affectionate regard. 

" Thine, 

"B, S." 

From R. S. to D. C. 

" Ballitore, 29th of Seventh Month, 1773. 

" Thus, my dear friend, prosperity and adversity 

chequer our lot of life : in both we are to bow in humble resignation 
to Him, who sends them alternately, for His own wise purposes. 
We are poor frail creatures ; the summer of prosperity is not to be 
long expected by us, we should be in danger of growing too rampant 
and luxuriant : the winter of adversity advances in rotation, when 
fruit, leaves, and all seem gone, but if the fault be not in ourselves, 
the secret sap of life remainefh as in the root, by which our spirits 
(if preserved clean,) are fed, and nourished and sustained, as with 
manna, that ive know not of. The resurrection of this sap to make 
lively and green, and to cause our branches to bear fruit in due 
season, is our principal business to wait for, it is not at our com- 
mand or control ; by this we shall be preserved alive in our own 
particulars, by this we shall be instructed and enabled to discharge 
our duties in our families, and to lend a hand of help in the Church. 
Poor times, thou mayst say, when such as some of us are looked to 
for help ; they are so, poor times ! but let us take care that we do 



86 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

not increase that poverty, either by our own spiritual indolence, or 

withholding any thing in the power of our hand to give 

" Thy truly affectionate friend, 

"R S." 

R. S. to . 



" Ballitore, 8th of Ninth Month, 1773. 

" Dear Friend, 
" Since the short conference which we had last together, I have 
several times thought of writing to thee, but various necessary en- 
gagements much engross my time, and leave very little leisure for a 
correspondence with my friends. However, I thought I would just 
hint to thee in this way, what might, without premeditation, occur, 
upon the subject of our last conversation. I am a person of uni- 
versal good will, and readily acknowledge that I am in a particular 
manner attached to the Cause of my religious profession, therefore I 
cannot, without some concern, observe any friend of mine publicly 
desert, and disown this same Cause, which we have jointly professed. 
The only reason which thou gave me for discontinuing to frequent 
our religious assemblies, as far as I understand the reason, (viz., a 
private offence taken at some individual,) is in itself so unreasonable, 
that I cannot but look on it as only some ostensible cause, when 
the true reason lies deeper, and in the secret labyrinths of the mind. 
Search there, dear friend, for the original cause, and I am mistaken if 
thou wilt not find it to be a disrelish for the limitations and singu- 
larities which our profession requires, and a propensity to the gran- 
deur, the pleasures and the vanities of the world, which lies in 
ignorance and wickedness. But suffer me to expostulate with thee ; 
from what really good and useful enjoyment does our profession 
debar us ? Are we not allowed all the conveniences and satisfactions 
of life, which the Almighty, the beneficent Donor, is pleased to favour 
us with ? We are only restrained from the excess and abuse of them, 
which are known to destroy the true relish of them, and to preclude 
those sensations of humble gratitude to our great Benefactor, which 
accompany a temperate, moderate use of His favours ; and what will 
any of us get by joining in spirit, in covenant, in familiarity with a 
deceitful, insincere world ? In the first place, we do violence to that 
which is of God, in our consciences ; we reject and cast behind our 
backs, the many visitations, wooings and invitations, which have been 
various ways, repeatedly and graciously offered ; we tacitly, by our 
contrasted conduct, reproach our ancestors who lived and died in the 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 87 

faith, as deceivers and deceived, or else, we bring reproach on our- 
selves, whose lives are diametrically opposite to theirs : we greatly 
endanger our property and morals, by an intimate connexion with 
those who are not restrained, by the fear of their Creator, from run- 
ning headlong into various vices, and whose pleasure and profit it is 
to allure others that are in affluent circumstances, into the same 
excess of riot (which often ends in the same distress and embarrass- 
ment) with themselves. By renouncing our religious profession, and 
forsaking our communion, we abandon that which is truth, and 
either adopt, that which is error in its stead, or else joining from 
principle with no religious society, we become ensamples of irreligion, 
and settle in a profane course of life, injurious to our own peace, 
displeasing to God, and offensive to wise, considerate men. Bear 
with me, dear friend, it is possibly the last time I may trouble thee 
on this head. Thou art the father of a pretty numerous flock of 
children, thou art the successor of religious ancestors, thou art come 
into their place, and some of their possessions. If thou would walk 
worthily and acceptably before thy great Benefactor, who sees all thy 
secret thoughts, as well as marks thy words and actions, and will 
assuredly reward according to our works, it is (in my sense) highly 
necessary for thee to come down in thy mind, and in humility and 
sincerity, seek for Divine Wisdom and strength, that thou may be 
preserved safe through this dangerous and uncertain state of exis- 
tence ; that thou may fill up the station, in which All-wise Provi- 
dence has placed thee, with rectitude and propriety, as a man and a 
Christian, and that thou may discharge that ponderous duty of a 
parent to thy offspring, in such a manner as will redound to thy 
own solid peace, and their substantial good. That so, when that 
awful period shall arrive, (and how near it may be at hand, is quite 
uncertain,) when inquisition will be made into our lives and conduct, 
whether we have walked in the fear of our Creator, whether we have 
properly and gratefully received his favours and benefits, as using 
and not abusing them, and whether we have stood uprightly and 
faithfully in our lots, spreading and enforcing the genuine principles 
and spirit of Christianity, by our lives and conversations, and ful- 
filling every relative duty appertaining to our station ; that, at 
that solemn time, and before that tremendous Judge, Witness and 
Benefactor, thou may have to give up thy accounts with joy and 
not with grief. That this may be thy happy experience is the sin- 
cere desire of 

" Thy affectionate friend, 

" R. S." 



88 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

From R. S. to Joseph Jacob. 

" Ballitore, 28th of Eleventh Month, 1773. 

" Dear Cousin, 

" Thou desires intelligence about the Half- Year's Meet- 
ing from me. I apprehend that I am not well at details of this sort, 
even when on the spot, and during the succession of meetings, one 
meeting as it were puts another out of my memory. Indeed I do not 
much regret this defect, for as we are but creatures of a moment, 
the making good use of the present opportunity is our only true 
interest, as well as duty. This meeting has been to me, I think 
much as they have mostly been to poor me for twenty-five years 
past. In many of the sittings my mind has been prostrated, and my 
spirit deeply baptized, I hope by the right operation and power ; but 
of this I would speak with caution, though of my own feelings, 
because great and deep is the mystery of the enemy's workings, and 
our own imaginations and passions may effect the same in appearance 
as the true angel of light, who only troubleth the waters, (puts in 
motion the inward exercise,) so as to cause any salutary virtue. To 
me it seems as though the Lord Almighty was still extending his call, 
and hovering over us for good : the testimony of Truth through well- 
qualified instruments was sharp and piercing, and in general, things 
in my apprehension much in the same state as they have been of 
late years. Our little friend, who appeared at Enniscorthy, appeared 
also at our Province Meeting in Dublin, but most of our Elders 
seeming dissatisfied with him, an opportunity was taken with him 
in solid conference, and we heard him no more. This is subtle, 
nice work, dear friend, and requires much skill, deep experience, a 
clear head, wise heart, and bowels of Christian sympathy : so that I 
am ready to say, who is sufficient for this thing ? And if there be 
any service in religious Society out of which I would willingly slip 
my neck, I think sometimes it is this. Christ Jesus the head of his 
Church has only the power of formation and the right of sending 
forth his ministers. They should therefore be well assured that 
they have along with them the mind of his Spirit who judge in these 

matters 

"I am, dear Joseph, 

" Thy truly affectionate friend, 

" R. S." 

In this year Dr. Leland published his History of Ireland, and 
Richard Shackleton received a letter, with the signature of the 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 89 

author, requesting his opinion of the work. The style of the latter 
gave no very favourable promise of the abilities of the historian. 
R. S. sent a civil reply, disclaiming any pretensions to critical judg- 
ment, and soon after received the following letter from the real 
author. 



Dr. L. to R. S. 



" July 2nd, 1773. 



" Sir, 

" My absence from Dublin prevented me from receiving your 
favour till this day. Whoever he was that took the liberty of 
addressing a letter to you, in my name, and whatever were his in- 
tentions, I account myself obliged to him. He has indeed been 
guilty of an unprovoked incivility to us both ; but he has been the 
means of introducing me, in some sort, to one, of whom our common 
friends have often spoken with the utmost affection and respect, and 
with whom I exceedingly wished to be acquainted. I know not in 
what terms the request was made, that you would give your opinion 
of my book ; but I beg you will allow me to repeat it, with sincere 
esteem, and a very just sense of the value of your opinion. I shall 
return to Dublin in the course of next week, and my first care shall 
be to send a set of the History of Ireland to Mr. Jackson's. If 
you do me the honour to peruse it, I must entreat you will not send 
it back, but accept of it, as a small mark of my sincere regard. 

" The book has been read in England, and received with more 
favour than I hoped for. Here it has had a few attentive readers ; 
but as to the public in general, I was ever persuaded, that in this 
kingdom, at least, their voice would be determined precisely in the 
manner you mention. I am sorry to say that you will find it very 
incorrectly printed. Believe me, with very sincere respect and 
regard, 

" Sir, 
" Your faithful and most obedient servant, 

" Thomas Leland." 

R. S. to Dr. Leland. 

"Ballitore, 17th of Tenth Month, (October,) 1773. 

" Dr. Lelakd, 

li I had the favour of writing to thee some time ago, and handed 
thee the original mock letter which gave rise to our correspondence. 



90 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

I have not had the pleasure of hearing from thee since, but perused 
thy history with the best attention which I was capable of. I am 
much obliged to thee for the book, and for the entertainment and 
instruction it has afforded me. Good history casts such a light upon 
all sides, and upon such a multitude of objects, and is so nearly 
concerned with religion and morality, that he certainly deserves very 
well of the public, who contributes, in so great a degree, to their 
pleasure and profit, by presenting them with a work of this kind. 
Thy history, without doubt, has cost thee much painful labour : 
there must have been much pioneering, much fable and falsehood to 
clear away ; and when this has been done, but scanty and bare 
materials left to erect a comely edifice. However, the cement is so 
good, and the several parts so aptly joined together, that we see a 
complete, well-finished, though not a magnificent structure ; a struc- 
ture which, in my opinion, will last, although a flood of calumny and 
false criticism should assault it. I only speak my own unbiassed 
sentiments : I have neither opportunity nor leisure to ransack and 
examine the stores from which the great leading historical events 
have been drawn ; but I have all along particularly remarked such 
a diligent, weary investigation of the reality of facts and characters, 
that I attend to the narrative with the satisfaction which a man 
feels, who is persuaded, from the cautious veracity of his author, that 
what he hears is true. 

" A history of our own country is, in some respects, like a 
history of our own times ; it necessarily, by some means or other, 
touches so nearly particular families, that it is no wonder if indi- 
viduals are piqued in some cases, whose family pride or interest is 
concerned ; and, taking offence at a part, decry the whole work. 
Self-love sits close to us, and we do not like to see an aspersion lie 
even on our own family-names. Different sentiments also in reli- 
gious matters, cannot fail of operating variously on those who read 
such a history : these sentiments being interwoven among our 
earliest prejudices, and fast rooted and rivetted by our judgments or 
our feelings, are not indeed easily shaken, but very sensible of any 
rude attack. On this account I am also of the number who think 
some part of thy history exceptionable. The expression which I 
wish to be altered is cited below. # 

"I know very well that the people called Quakers have their frame 
and organs, and are subject to like passions with other men ; and 

* Vol. iii. p. 504. "But those called Protestants were chosen from 
Quakers, or other enthusiasts — from the poor, the profligate, and con- 
temptible." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 91 

that through the deceivableness of unrighteousness, and delusion 
of a subtle enemy, who is transformed into an angel of light, they 
may be mistaken and led astray in their religious exercises, unless, 
according to the apostle's advice, they watch and be sober ; unless 
they patiently wait and watch for the appearance of Christ by his 
Spirit, in their hearts, who told his then present followers, i without 
me ye can do nothing \ and who encouraged his future followers to 
expect the same aid, by the promise of ' Lo ! I am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the world/ Unless they thus wait, they may 
run before they are sent, and offer the sacrifice of fools : and unless 
they be sober and steady, keeping to the feeling sense of Divine 
truths, and under the guidance of Divine Wisdom, they may, as well 
as others, follow the imaginations of their own brain, instead of im- 
mediate revelation, be deceived themselves, and deceive others. 

" These dangers, my friend, I frankly confess attend us ; but I 
also hope and believe we are, in general, happily preserved from 
them. I do not think that we deserve to be caricatured in the 
lump, with the denomination of enthusiasts. However, this does 
not cause but that I hold both the author and his history in great 

respect and estimation I admire the celebrated writers of 

the Augustan age, who yet looked on the primitive Christians in 
their time, as a contemptible, insignificant sect ; and thereby proved 
the truth of the Apostle's observation, ' that the world by wisdom 
knew not God/ 

" I hope thou wilt excuse the liberty which I take in thus ex- 
pressing myself: I assure thee it is not without sentiments of real 
regard and esteem. I am persuaded that Dr. Leland has pondered 
deeply on the most interesting subjects, and knows that a religion 
which does not enter into a man's feelings, and influence his life, 
can be of no service to him : it is inanimate, dry, and formal. Yet, 
as a man's feelings can only be rightly known by himself, can often 
with difficulty be explained to others, and often cannot at all be 
comprehended by them, it may be necessary that a people, dissenting 
from a national religion and way of worship, established by law, 
should give some reasons for their dissent, and a rational account 
of^their faith; I therefore hand thee herewith a treatise on our 
religious principles, which I beg leave to recommend to thy solid 
perusal ; and whether thou wilt approve of it or not, I request 
that thou wilt accept of it from me, as a token of my sincere 
regard, 

" Who am, respectfully thine, 



92 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

Dr. Leland to R. S. 

" November 23rd, 1773. 
" Dear Sir, 
" It is not without sincere regret that I have been so long diverted 
from my purpose of acknowledging the favour of your last letter, 
and the obliging present that attended it. A variety of cares and 
occupations, on my appointment to an extensive parish in Dublin ; 
and some intervals of languor and depression, occasioned by the re- 
mains of those nervous affections which I contracted, by making more 
use of my pen than my horse, are the only excuses I can make for 
so long a silence. Let me at length entreat you to accept my cordial 
thanks for a letter so nattering to me, and which confirms me in the 
respectful sentiments I had entertained of the writer. I am parti- 
cularly gratified by the candour and kindness of your remarks on the 
difficulties I encountered, both in collecting and selecting the mate- 
rials for my history, and the appearance of veracity that it bears. 
My task was indeed laborious, and whatever violence I might do to 
prejudices and prepossessions, I considered myself as an evidence 
before the tribunal of the public, and as solemnly bound to declare 
the truth, to the best of my knowledge, as we should have been, had 
I sworn and you affirmed. The consequence has been, in this 
kingdom, as I supposed : my representations have not given entire 
content to any party. I have been already attacked from various 
quarters, but with so much impotence, so much frivolous and cap- 
tious folly, and so shameful an ignorance of the subject, as are per- 
fectly mortifying ; for I confess I should have liked to have been 
called out by an ingenious and plausible critic. Forgive a little 
ebullition of vanity, when I declare I felt somewhat of the ardour of 
a much younger and cleverer fellow. 

' Optat aprum aut fulvuni descendere monte leonem.' 

And now, none but the most ignoble beasts of the field have deigned 
to take any notice of me. But I am abundantly consoled by a 
number of such testimonies as yours ; and in a country where Irish 
parties are little regarded, I have received a great deal more than 
justice. 

" But I cannot sufficiently thank you for the truly polite, inge- 
nuous, and candid manner in which you have urged your objection 
to one particular expression that escaped me. If it be Quakerism 
to enforce the momentous distinction between the vital, influencing 
spirit of Christianity, and the nominal and formal profession of reli- 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 93 

gion, I have ever been preaching Quakerism, and God grant I ma}' 
live and die a Quaker ! But instead of entering into certain dis- 
cussions, in which I might not express a difference of sentiment with 
the same politeness, or to give it a more honourable name, with the 
same spirit of meekness, that you have done, I at once plead guilty, 
and acknowledge that no religious sect should ever be generally 
included in any one invidious appellation. Had I received your 
favour before the octavo edition was printed off, the expression 
should not have continued in it. I must take the first opportunity 
in my power of correcting it. 

" Farewell, my dear Sir, 
" And believe me very gratefully and respectfully, 
" Your obedient and affectionate servant, 

" Thomas Leland." 

From E. S. to Joseph Jacob. 

" Ballitore, 19th of Third Month, 1774. 
" Dear Cousin, 

"I suppose ye have had our friend C with you. I 

think so far he seems to shape well, and I am apt to believe, (if he 
keeps on the right bottom,) will shine bright before he leaves us ; 
but a danger attends the poor servant often at his return home. To 
be stripped of the royal priestly ornaments, and be reduced to the 
old ordinary clothing ; to be deprived of the capacity and strength 
occasionally furnished, and to feel one's self weak as other men, are 
circumstances trying to the creature : hence, I fear, there has some- 
times proceeded an impatience and restlessness, a desire to be up and 
be doing, and perhaps a temptation has entered of endeavouring to 
gain or preserve the good opinion of the people, by sacrificing before 
the Prophet come. * I forced myself, said Saul, and offered a burnt- 
offering/ May all ranks and degrees of us be preserved in humility 
and nothingness of self ; for if we do not thus take root downwards, 
we shall be so far from experiencing that permanent growth, which 
in due season may cause us to bear fruit, that we shall not be likely to 
hold out against those manifold impediments and annoyances with 
which we may expect to be tried and our stability proved ! . . . . . 

" Thine affectionately, 

" K S." 



94 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

From R. S. to Richard Jacob. 

" Ballitore, 20th of 4th Month, 1774. 
" Dear Richard, 
" Please let thy father know that I am favoured with his long 
and kind epistle, for which I am obliged to him. 

"Last Second-day morning, our dear friend and kinsman, Joseph 
Thompson, was found dead in his bed, having been the night pre- 
ceding, (to all appearance,) in good health and spirits. It is supposed 
that he died in his sleep, as his wife who lay with him did not 
perceive it till she arose. This, among many instances, dear child, 
shows how watchful and circumspect we should be in our conduct, 
and that we should never recline ourselves to rest without collecting 
our thoughts and waiting for a capacity to recommend ourselves to 
the Divine Protection : so uncertain is the tenure of our existence 

here 

" Thine affectionately, 

" R. S." 

From R. S. to D. C. 

" Ballitore, 17th of Eighth Month, 1775. 



My Dear Cousin 



" It is true there is an ineffectual bemoaning, and a 

looking the wrong way for help ; but there is also a time and a 
season and a freedom in which we may unbosom ourselves in some 
degree to our intimate friends, and sometimes not unprofitably, deep 
calling unto deep. For my part, I know no better way than dili- 
gently to keep up the watch unto prayer, and to wait in simplicity 
for the operation of the Spirit of Truth, to appear in its own way 
and manner, and do its present office, according to the present 
occasion, for manifold is the Grace of God. This, with a faithful, 
honest discharge of what we are made sensible to be our duty, is the 
way, and the only way, for us to gather strength, and get the better 
of our many infirmities, both of flesh and spirit ; at least I have so 
learned, I wish I could always so practice. It may sometimes not 
be of much use any way to dwell too long and often on the con- 
templation of the degenerate state of our religious Society. When 
this view is brought before us in the vision of light, it is good, it is 
productive of humbling baptism in sympathy with the oppressed 
seed, and of strong cries for its deliverance ; but if we look at this 
declension with the eye of human reason only, we may be much 
deceived, and pierce ourselves with sorrows of our own making, as well 
as heat ourselves with sparks of our own kindling. There may be 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETOK 95 

many of the Lord's anointed at present hid among the stuff, who, 
when they are in due time brought forth, will appear taller by the 
head and shoulders in religious stature, than the generality of their 
brethren ; and many goodly personages, who are like eldest brothers, 
and heirs apparent in the family, yet are known by Him who sees 
the heart, to have forfeited the pre-eminence of their birth-right, 
and not to merit the rank, which they are fond to assume. Let us, 
my beloved friend, make it our principal care and endeavour, to get 
a settlement in a quiet and still habitation, taking diligent heed to 
ourselves, that our own hearts and hands be kept clean, and simply 
doing, according to the best ability afforded, that little portion of 
the great work, which appears to be our proper business ; so shall 
we witness that peace and tranquillity of mind, which cannot be en- 
joyed, but as our obedience keeps pace with knowledge, and be freed 
from a numberless train of disquietudes and perplexities, which ever 
attend a negligent or partial performance of our duties ; growing 
from strength to strength, and increasing in the increase of good. . . 
" Certainly nothing is better than religion for use and ornament. 
If it be the will of the Great Dispenser of the cup of life, to pour 
out many prosperous circumstances, religion preserves in the modera- 
tion, and gives the best relish to the sweets ; if trouble and adversity 
be mingled in a great degree, religion supports and comforts, sweetens 
the potion and makes it salutary. 

" Very affectionately thine, 

"R. B." 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Ballitore, Uth of Third Month, 1776. 

" My dear Cousin, 

" I have just been reading again the last letter I received from 
thee, and the perusal of it causes a fresh revival of the sensations 
accompanying long friendship ; a friendship combined among our 
families by manifold ties of early acquaintance, kindred, and affec- 
tion, both natural and spiritual, and strengthened by a participation 
of mutual satisfaction and sorrows ; a friendship begun with the 
earliest remembrance of some, and which I trust will continue to the 
latest period of us all : I believe it has a foundation more durable 
than that of bare outward acquaintance, interest or relation. May 
we not reverently hope that it is tinctured with something of that 
which is best of all things, a degree of religious sense ? Happy 
those who, in this day of jeopardy and scarcity, cherish this precious 



96 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

sense, not lavishing it away in words, but hiding the Word of life, 
[whence this sense comes] in their hearts, witness it to preserve them 
from evil, and treasure up this Divine sense against the day of trial 
and calamity, which we may expect repeatedly to experience in this 
uncertain world. 

" It is good, my dear friend, to look and lean towards Almighty 
help in conducting our family affairs, ' in all our ways to acknow- 
ledge him, and he will direct our paths / how beautifully the sweet 
Psalmist of Israel expresses himself, and what encouragement he 
gives, ' Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even 
the Most High, thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, 
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling ; for he shall give 
his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways/ &c. 
May this preserving hand, my beloved cousin, be always about thee 
and thine ! 

There is a spirit predominant amongst us, as a people, which 
wanteth to be great, and seeks exaltation of family and a name 
in the earth, this is ravening and grasping, often disappointed, never 
satisfied ; they are like ( the young lions/ which the Psalmist says, 
'lack and suffer hunger/ but he adds, 'they that seek the Lord 
shall not want any good thing/ 

" Thine, in true affection, 

"R. S." 

R S. to his Son. 

" Dublin, 7th of Fifth Month, 1776. 

"Religion, which is an acquaintance with God in spirit, 

is the noblest principle which man is capable of. But the activity 
and energy of it is not at man's command. We are to be quiet, passive, 
and not seek to stir up our Beloved till he please. Let us abide at 
home (in the house) till intelligence arrives that the Master is come, 
and calleth for us. Men, willing and running of themselves after 
the knowledge of religion, as they do after discoveries in natural 
science, bewilder themselves, and effect nothing that is profitable. 
Patiently wait, and quietly hope, is the lesson which we should learn. 
How dry and like ashes our minds are, when the flame of religion 
(I mean the active, present virtue of it) is extinct. 

11 Thou hast, my dear Abraham, a weighty charge devolved upon 
thy youthful shoulders. Thou hast great occasion for wisdom. . . . 
" I am, indeed, 

" Thy affectionate father, 

"JELS." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 97 

R. S. to his Wife. 

" London, 1st of Sixth Month, 1776. 

" This is a time and place for deep feeling, weighty, 

concise speaking, and close attention to a variety of church busi- 
ness It seems that this Yearly Meeting is larger than 

common, and indeed it is an awfully -splendid sight to behold. To 
be sure, many come, perhaps, in a light mind and vain curiosity, 
to the general meeting of business : however, there is a noble appear- 
ance of valuable Friends, of deep spiritual wisdom and experience. 
Men of great capacities speaking like children, glorying in being ser- 
vants of the church, and despising all treasures in comparison of those 
laid up for them in heaven ; contemning every connexion, compara- 
tively, except a connexion with Christ, and those ties which are 

confirmed and sanctified by his Spirit William Dilworth, 

William Eathbone, and Isaac Wilson are here, endued with gifts, 
and exercising them in the beauty of holiness, to the edification of 

the church There are young people here, of such a 

number and sort, as would do thy honest heart good to see them. 
In the effusion of love and life, and in the torrent of a powerful 
testimony, in the meeting of business, Isaac Sharpless proposed a 
nomination for a visit to the counties and places in England. The 
representatives from Ireland prevailed on the meeting to extend the 
visit to Ireland. It was very agreeable to see what numbers of the 
first rank and eminence voluntarily gave in their names for the 
service ; others were nominated by their friends. Some, who were 
backward in offering themselves at the first sitting, gave up their 
names afterwards, and seemed as if they durst not go home till they 
had made that sacrifice. 

" There were, I believe, threescore and ten valuable Friends given 
up to this service, who are to divide themselves and separate to the 

work 

"R.S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

"London, 6th of Sixth Month, 1776, 

"I have been these two last nights at Edmund Burke's 

in Westminster. They have been very kind, and he is indeed an 

admirable man I thank Divine Providence that my 

relish (I hope prevailing, uppermost, permanent relish,) is for other 
things. Indeed, the distraction occasioned in the mind, by being of 

H 



98 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

necessity occupied by two different objects, causes a disagreeable 
sensation in a spiritual constitution weak as mine. People may 
judge and think of me, some better, and perhaps some worse than I 
deserve ; but He that sees in secret, at the same time that He knows 
my infirmities, and that I am as a reed shaken with the wind, sees 
also, I trust, the sincerity of my heart, and prepares many an offer- 
ing therein The more any of us are impregnated with 

the seasoning virtue of true religion, the more savoury is our con- 
versation and mutual communication. And, indeed, all of us, young 
and old, have need, in each of our departments, to feel after and 
witness its efficacy : we want it for food, we want it for cleansing, we 
want it in prosperity to limit and preserve us, we want it in adversity 
to sustain and console us. 

" R. S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Woodbridge, 21st of Sixth Month, 1776. 

" My dear Wife, 

"I have some hopes that a letter will have arrived at 

London from you, and that it will be forwarded to me from thence 
to Norwich, where I expect to be to-morrow night. Their Yearly 
Meeting is to be there next week. Thou seest how I venture to 
ramble about ; not, I hope, through vain curiosity, nor fleshly ease 
and security, but with my dear family and the numerous charge 
committed to us much in my thoughts, and being now and then en- 
abled to commit them all to the Divine protection, and the mediation 
of the hand of Omnipotence. I doubt not but ye feel the want of 
me in several respects ; however, I hope this excursion may prove of 
some benefit. I have hereby an opportunity of acquainting myself 
more perfectly with the general state of the Society, and of knowing 
some families and individuals very well worth being known. My 
son is under the necessity of coming more under the burden of the 
business, which it is very incumbent on him to get experience of, in 
its various branches and circumstances. He will see the absolute 
necessity there is of steadiness in his department and line of life, 
and close attention to the improvement of every pupil, in every part 
of his learning and conduct, and how under Providence, that is the 
main pillar of the house, under which and by which we principally 
live ; and above all, he will see that our best endeavours are as 
nothing, without the sanction of the Divine blessing ; and I trust, 
even the embarrassments and trials which he may additionally meet 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 99 

with, in my absence, will tend and conspire to strengthen a strong 

cry in him for best Wisdom On him, thou knowest, my 

dearest, that our hopes are much fixed as to outward, temporal 
view, being the only male remainder of our house. If religion 
has room to operate in its own way, manner, and extent, in his 
heart, he will infallibly do well : if he suffers the mixture of the 
creature to preponderate — the earthly, in any shape, to supersede 
the heavenly ; and his will and choice to incline to the world, its 
spirit and its wisdom, his progress in the holy path (a path replete 
with every solid comfort of this and a better life,) will be greatly 
retarded or blocked up, and his future life disquieted with many a 
disagreeable alloy. But, (thanks to that Power which has mea- 
surably preserved us, my dear, as we kept in some degree, our hold 
of the chain, and which, through great, unmerited kindness, is, I 
trust, visiting our offspring,) I am comforted in a belief that our 
son will make the best choice, even choose wisdom of the best kind ; 
and not only choose it, but, with an holy importunity, earnestly 
pray for it to be his guide and safe-guard, through the intricate 
labyrinth and perils which may attend him, in his short passage 
over the stage of this uncertain life : so will the blessing of his 
dignified ancestors fall upon him, his morning and noon-day sun 
shine with unclouded lustre, and its splendour illuminate the mild 
evening of his day. This, my dear, is our earnest wish, not only for 
him, but for all our dear children. I hope they will each excuse my 
not writing to them. Till this morning it has hardly been practi- 
cable for me, with propriety, to commune with you after this manner. 
Travelling, public meetings, private opportunities, a variety of feel- 
iDgs, prevent the inclination and the capacity (the 'to will and 
to do/) from uniting. 

" Leaving London the 14th instant, we took our passage in the 
stage-coach for Chelmsford, the residence of dear John Griffith. 
We found the good man very poorly in health, his legs much 
swollen, an asthma and dropsy seemed to be precipitating him to- 
wards the grave ; yet he was remarkably communicative, pleasant, 
cheerful, and agreeable : spoke very affectionately of thee : said he 
remembered thee and thy person quite freshly ; I think he said, as 
if thou wert there before him. I told him of thy love and esteem 
for him. My heart was united to him. I drew nigh to him, as to a 
father and most dear friend : my spirit was tendered. He lived two 
or three days after we were gone from him, and then was gathered 
to the generations of the just. His remains are to be interred 23rd 
instant. He commissioned me to present thee with his dear love. 

h 2 



100 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

Samuel Neale, James Abell, William Foster, John Pirn, William 
Dilworth and his wife, and I, were all there together. The dear 
man was below stairs with us in the evening ; and, though he had 
a very poor night, was down with us next morning. We had no 
opportunity but of conversation with him. We staid till about 
eleven o'clock that mornino;. Just about that time a stao;e-coach 
came in, which had just room for three passengers. We took leave, 
in great love and great haste, and got safe here that evening, nearly 
fifty miles. It is admirable what accommodation there is in car- 
riages, and how little they make of running eighty or a hundred 
miles. I often think of thee, my love, and thy horse and chaise, 

and Martin 

" This is a very pleasant, quiet town ; the people industrious, 
and several of them rich. Small ships come up to it. The Friends 
exceedingly kind, and the most free and cordially intimate among 
one another^ families, of any place, I think, that I have yet been 

in Samuel Neale, James Abell, and I, lodge at the 

house of Benjamin Evans, the principal Friend in the place : a 
numerous family ; and, from the head to the foot, parents and chil- 
dren, as fine, promising, engaging a family, as, I think, I ever saw 
in our Society. Benjamin's wife is public : her husband, a valuable 
steady elder, very open-hearted and agreeable : their children not 
only seem well-disposed and quite Friend-like in their appearance 
and conduct, but a strong current of heavenly visitation, I am 
persuaded, runs powerfully, and, I trust, effectually, towards them. 
The eldest son of the family is married to a very amiable, Friend- 
like young woman, settled in this place, and has beautiful little 
children. We have attended many meetings for worship and disci- 
pline in this town, generally to good satisfaction. Isaac Sharpless, 
and our dear friend Samuel Neale, have had good service. Mary 
Artis lives in this place — is in good esteem — poor in this world ; 
but, I doubt not, rich in faith. She is grown old — seemed much 
rejoiced to see S. N., but not to know me, or remember any- 
thing about us ; however, gave me some testimony of her unity, 
which was satisfactory to me. Buth Follows was here — is hard of 
hearing — did not mix much in conversation. I was fearful lest 
she had any way suffered loss. She appeared low, and somewhat 
distant; but at the conclusion of the Yearly Meeting here, re- 
moved all my fears respecting her ; revived the ancient amity 
and unity between us ; and baptized my spirit with a suppli- 
cation so powerful, so extraordinary, and accompanied with such 
holy energy of eloquence, as I thought was enough to convince 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON, 101 

all mankind that could hear it, of the principle of Truth which 
we profess 

" I have not been, nor mean to be, at Edmund Burke's country- 
seat. He is the same astonishing, bright luminary ; — the same 
affable, condescending companion ; — the same steady, faithful, cordial 
friend. His wife, his brother, his son, and William Burke, very kind 
and friendly ; his son, a sweet, amiable and promising youth 

" Having written this letter without intermission almost, at one 
bout, thou mayst think I am almost weary of writing ; though 
never, I think, of conversing with thee, whom, the longer I have the 

favour of possessing, the more I love Farewell, my dear 

love ; and be assured I am, with increasing affection, 

" Thy truly loving husband, 

"R. S." 

K. S. to Hannah Plumpstead, Jun. 

" Ballitore, [date uncertain.] 

[On reaching home, after travelling through part of England with 
S. Neale,] " I hope gratitude for the safe conduct of Divine Pro- 
vidence in this journey, will properly attend my mind. In the 
several places where we attended meeting, our friend Samuel Neale 
had good service ; and even in our passing along, as the inward eye 
was steadily turned the right way, there was a sacrifice prepared, a 
tender petition put up in secret for help and preservation, and my 
spirit was enabled, in a particular manner, to intercede in silent yet 
fervent supplication, for the visited youth, that the gracious inten- 
tions of Heaven towards them, might never be frustrated, nor any- 
thing be able to pluck them out of the Lord's hand. 

" The elders have been removed, and are moving off, a succession 
is wanting in the church. The call, the invitation is gone forth, the 
rich dainties of the Father's house are prepared, and all is ready. 
Be thou, my dear child, one of those who will give up their names 
to serve the Best of masters. There is no honour like the honour of 
His service ; no reward like the reward which He bestows. As thou 
art faithful to the discoveries of His Spirit, in matters comparatively 
small, as thou surrenderest thy heart in unreserved dedication, and 
spreads thy garments and all superfluous branches of every luxuriant 
growth in the way of His coming, great will be thy peace. But if 
thou say est in thy heart, to the Divine visitation, " Hitherto will 
I follow thee, and no further ;" if thou secretest the doves (the 
seemingly innocent things) when the Master is turning them out of 



102 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

His temple, and if thou wilt not suffer the bitterness of death to 
pass upon that which is high and delicate, Goodness and Mercy will 
strive again, and again, hut thy way will be long about, and thy 
wilderness tedious. 

"Perhaps, by this time Joseph Bevan and thy sister, have entered 
into their solemn contract : may they enter into solemn contract 
with the Author of all their blessings, that they will serve and obey 
him in body, soul and spirit, all the days of their lives ! 

" R. S." 

In this year, Richard Shackleton gave his second daughter, 
Margaret, in marriage to Samuel Grubb of Clonmel. 

R. S. to his Daughter Mary. 

"Ballitore, 30th of Seventh Month, 1776. 

" As my dear M. bespoke me to write to her, I think to send her 
a little scrawl. I hope thy dear mother and thou have been bravely 
since you left us, as (through favour of kind Providence) we gene- 
rally are. I do not doubt but thou receivest many civilities and 
marks of affectionate regard from thy friends and new relations [at 
Clonmel.] People who are civil themselves are generally treated with 
civility, but the froward meet with those of their own stamp. For 
my part, when I was lately in England, I did not know what to do 
with the people's kindness. Indeed, I believe I should have been in 
danger of being hurt by it, but for one thing. I had got, by long 
experience, some knowledge of myself, and I well knew that of my- 
self I was poor, weak, unstable, ignorant, insignificant ; and that if 
I had any little capacity to step aright, or drop a word to edification, 
it was no merit of mine, it was by the grace of God;, a name, my 
dear, which I would not make free to write, but that I feel a 
solemnity unexpectedly cover my spirit, while I thus hold converse 
with thee. Be thou also careful, my beloved Mary, to centre deep 
in humility and abasement of self : it is the tree which takes deep 
root downwards, that is most likely to stand against the storm. This 
is the spring-time of thy life : may thy tender, innocent heart be 
open to receive the precious seed, which I trust the great and good 
Husbandman will condescend, and has condescended, to sow therein ; 
may He also be pleased to water it with the visitations of His love, 
immediately and instrumentally ; may He guard and protect it from 
every noxious thing ! Thou seest how thy elder sisters have made 
choice of religion, as their principal treasure. Be thou also a wise 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 103 

child ; and whatever natural abilities it may please the great Creator 
to endue thee with, or whatever acquisitions or improvements thou 
mayst make of those natural gifts, by contemplation, reading, or 
converse, thou art only acceptable in the sight of Heaven, (however 
man may estimate thee,) as thou takest heed to the grace in thy 
own heart, to be restrained by its restraints, to do nothing contrary 
to its gentle remonstrances, and to obey, in humility and simplicity, 
its leadings and requirings. My dear child, above all things, be 
humble, be humble. Humility goes before honour : it is the humble 
whom the Lord teaches of his ways. We have in each of us a certain 
something, appertaining to self, (it is of the flesh,) which profiteth 
nothing in the work of religion. This fleshly part is pleased, and 
nourished, and swells with the praise and commendation of fools ; 
for wise men would not puff up : and we have need of frequent 
retirement to the gift, the grace in our minds, that in the tranquil, 
cool hour of the day, not inflated by vain knowledge, or perturbed 
by passion, we may, in the stillness of all flesh, hear what this 
Monitor, this good Spirit, this faithful Witness, says to our states. 
Perhaps when, figuratively speaking, all men speak well of us, this 
heavenly, sure, unerring word of prophecy, which preaches to our 
own particular states, as individuals, will condemn or reprove us. 
This is what we are to go by, and judge and estimate ourselves by ; 
and not by the crude, superficial, hasty, partial judgment of capri- 
cious mortals, whose favour veers about like the wind. My mind is 
often exercised in behalf of my children. You are the children of 
many prayers. You have hitherto been a great comfort to your 
dear mother and me, and we have.no greater joy than to see you 
walk in the Truth. It is neither in our will, nor in our power, to 
do great things as to this world, for you. We are not like many 
others who have large possessions and lucrative business. Provi- 
dence, in the wise distribution of his favours, has allotted us a lower 
rank in life ; yet, with industry, care, and prudent economy, he has 
enabled us to procure a sufficiency. And indeed a great redundance 
is not desirable : the lip of Truth has pronounced how hard it is for 
a rich man to enter the kingdom. A little sufficiency of the things 
of this life, enjoyed with moderation, and under a renewed sense of 
the Divine blessing, is all that I think we should wish for : and 
when obtained, should be cause of deep, and humble, and fervent 
gratitude to our great Benefactor. 

" So, my dear, I have unexpectedly written thee a long letter, 
instead of a short scrawl. I was writing to thy dear mother, and 
whatever was the meaning of it, I could not enlarge as usual to her ; 



104 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

so I turned to thee, and found greater facility and fluency. Not 
that I think my letter to thee is any thing extraordinary, as to its 
value, or that I had any extraordinary influence to write it. But 
so it fell out : these things occurred, and I venture to pen them 
down, in a degree of freedom of mind. And, indeed, without such 
freedom, we should be cautious of writing or speaking on the solemn 
subject of religion. Our own spirits, as human creatures, may agitate 
other matters ; but the^ Spirit of Christ in us, should more or less 
open our understandings, and give liberty, when we meddle with the 
things of his kingdom. Perhaps I may not very often again, at least 
for some space of time, converse with thee on this awful theme ; but 
whether present or absent, speaking, writing, or silent, be assured I 
am, with the closest feelings of paternal love, 

" Thy truly affectionate father, 

"R. S." 

From R. S. to his Wife. 

" Ballitore, 1st of Eighth Month, 1776. 

" We are not to judge by outward appearances. 

There may be great exactness in keeping to the letter of the dis- 
cipline, and a good form, when either the overcharge of temporal 
concerns, or indolence of spirit, or permission of wrong things in 
their families, may preclude the flowing forth of good to individuals ; 
and when divers of such individuals are collected together, sometimes 
darkness and heaviness will be felt, more than light and life. ..... 

I am persuaded thy honest, faithful heart, loyal to thy Sovereign, 
true to His testimony, and zealous in His cause, is approved of by 
Him who knows the heart ; and if thou dost not go a good gait at 

last, I do not know what will become of some of us 

" R. &." 

From R. S. to his Son. 

" Dublin, 2nd of Eleventh Month, 1776. 

" We may expect good cheer in good company, but 

may be disappointed. It is our great loss, as a people, that we so 
much stand looking one upon another. Ye men of Jerusalem, why 
stand ye looking one upon another ? i Jesus, whom ye seek, is not 
here' — is not to be met with by looking for him in this manner. ' If 
ye seek him, ye shall find him.'' 

" We profess and hold forth a spiritual, supernatural principle, as 
the essential, vital part of religion ; enabling us both to live, (be 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 105 

spiritually alive,) to know, and to will and to do, as Christians. 
The world denies this principle, so stumbles at the threshold. It is 
hard, perhaps impracticable, by dint of reason, to convince even 
rational men of things which are above reason — which are super- 
natural. They must be convinced by supernatural means, even by 
the effects of that power which they deny : these effects, to be seen 
and felt in the lives, conversation, and word and doctrine, of the 
professors of Truth, who live in, and are guided by the power 

of it 

" R. S. v 

From R. S. to D. C. 

"Ballitore, 19th of Twelfth Month, 1776. 

" My dear Cousin, 

" We have all need to witness a taking deeper root in the ground 
of Divine love, and to have our affections to created objects bounded 
by it, that so when the storms of adversity assault, our spirits may 
know a stability and support in the day of trouble, which nothing 
less can procure for them ; that when the world speaks trouble, 
Christ Jesus may speak peace to our tossed minds. May this con- 
tinue to be thy anchor and thy refuge, my dear friend. As men and 
women, we are fallible, and diversified as to tempers, habits, and 
dispositions, so that even the children of the heavenly family, may 
differ in sentiments and opinions about earthly things ; but as these 
cannot live without getting their food in due season, their participa- 
tion together at the Lord's table renews their amity and brotherly 
kindness, and the love of God melts down the hardness of the natural 
part, so that in malice they are children, and love as brethren ; that 
is, their falling out is like that of little children, a little pettish fit, 
and soon over, and their love to one another is like that of brethren 
and sisters of the same family, in which an elder or wiser child 
may exhort, reprove, and even correct, a younger, or more giddy one, 
but still the brotherly kindness and common good of the family be 
uppermost, and the bond and cement of the whole. 

"I make no doubt but that thou art well aware of 

the caution which we parents ought to use about companions for our 
children. Youth is often full of emulation, sanguine in expectation, 
fond of novelty, ready to form friendships. The leaven of companions 
of the same age is very powerful. We should as much as possible, 
procure for our children associates that are better and wiser than 



106 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

themselves, and encourage an intimacy with such. But we live in 
a world of mixture, and this cannot always be effected ; however, it 
should be still in the scope of our views and contemplation/' 

" Old age, to be sure, will come upon us in a short 

time, if we be not first numbered to the silent grave. I wish we 
may all, while strength and capacity is afforded, make good use of 
the present time, which only is ours. An insidious enemy lies at 
the door of our hearts, and our houses, waiting for an entrance. 
It is his delight to break down the fence, and mar the beauty of 
the pleasant garden, which Divine culture has made comely and 
fruitful." 

"I wish the great and repeated labour bestowed may 

be crowned with success ; and, indeed, I believe it is not altogether 
in vain, for I am persuaded many of our youth, are under the re- 
newed visitation of heavenly regard, and others would be in danger 
of a still further backsliding, were it not for the efficacy of these 
instrumental calls, invitations, and expostulations. May we, who 
are more advanced in years, witness a being deepened in our spirits, 
and wait in humility and patience at the King's gate, abide, take 
up our residence, tarry at Jerusalem, till it please the Author of 
every good and perfect gift, to endue with power from on high ! 

R, S. to Hannah Plumpstead, Juk 

" Ballitore, 21s* of First Month, 1777. 

" There is nothing appertaining to man more noble and glorious, 
than the cause of religion, and an eye is now and then opened in 
us, which sees it to be so : but unless we be diligent in spirit to have 
this sight renewed, and this vision of life repeatedly impressed on 
our understanding, in our frail state, the things that are present will 
be apt to operate more forcibly upon our nature, than the things 
which are to come. The splendour of this world, and its spirit, in 
some shape or other, will be ready to dazzle our view, and hinder us 
from seeing the intrinsic beauty and comeliness which is in the 
Truth. I have at times pondered why the visitation and call of 
Divine condescension should be so universal, and yet that there 
should be so slender a succession in this generation, of serviceable 
gifted men and women in our religious Society. I have thought 
the defect has been here, — that the visited of the Lord have not 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 107 

sufficiently humbled themselves under his hand, nor gone down the 
number of times appointed them to wash in Jordan, so they come 
not up sufficiently cleansed, they are in some degree, but not alto- 
gether clean, there still remains some of the old disorder to be seen, 
their flesh is not like that of little children, of whom it is said, ' Of 
such is the kingdom of heaven/ and to whom the mysteries of the 
kingdom are revealed. 

" I wish for thee, dear friend, to walk steadily in the path of an 
humble follower and disciple of Christ, that thou mayst witness him 
to be a Comforter indeed, and experience those consolations which flow 
as a river into the hearts of those, who in the fulness of dedication, 
offer up their all to him, and are desirous, above all things, to walk 
acceptably before him. 

" K S/' 

K. S. TO his Son-in-Law. 

"Ballitore, 25th of Sixth Month, 1777, 

" My dear Samuel, 

" With great pleasure yesterday evening I received thine, giving 
account of thy dear wife being on the recovery (from a fever.) I 
hope thou wilt have to continue us like favourable reports, till she is 
able to confirm them with her own hand. I am in sentiment with 
thee, that this trial may have been permitted for good purposes : we 
may see thereby, and by numberless instances, how uncertain is the 
state of human prosperity, and how soon the fairest buildings of our 
imagination, our schemes and our hopes may be dashed to pieces. 
We live in a world, where, from a multitude of causes, we may be 
made most wretched and miserable, and miss of a place of rest here- 
after. What need have we then to walk awfully in humble thank- 
fulness, when we enjoy all the necessaries and conveniences of life, 
and when this life is rendered by our Almighty Benefactor not only 
tolerable, but comfortable : yea, when in the infinity of his con- 
descending goodness, he is graciously pleased to superadd to his 
temporal favours, the visitations of his Holy Spirit, to prepare us 
for, and afford us an earnest of eternal salvation. May you, my 
dear children, keep your vessels, your hearts, clean and empty, wait- 
ing in abstractedness of thought and nothingness of self, that these 
vessels may receive some of the blessed effusion, which will preserve 
you, will strengthen you to go through the duties of this life with 
alacrity, and qualify you to be of some service in the church in your 
day. I have unity with you both, in your baptisms, in your dedi- 



108 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

cations, and in your resolutions, that you will choose the Lord and 
his service, and not the world and its spirit, for the lot of your 
inheritance ; and the petition of my heart is for your growth and 
establishment in the most precious Truth. Amen ! 

"& S." 

R. S. to his Daughter G . 



"Ballitore, 3rd of Eighth Month, 1777. 
" My dear Margaret, 

"I am glad once more to receive a letter from thy own hand. I 
wish us to be preserved thankful receivers of the many favours con- 
ferred upon us. May we be still kept in a sense of our weakness, 
and wretchedness, and insufficiency without Divine protection and 
assistance, that we may look and lean to the Lord, who is omni- 
potent and omnipresent, and, from one season to another, cultivate 
an acquaintance with him, through the means which he has allotted 
for that purpose, his Spirit placed in our hearts ; by the operation 
of which, petitions and offerings are prepared, and ascend with 
favour and acceptance to our common Creator and Benefactor, who 
is worthy of a whole burnt-offering from each of us ; even a total 
dedication of our all to him, from whom we have all, and by whose 
special goodness and mercy we yet remain, I hope, in degree alive, 
in every respect, to make mention with gratitude and reverence of 

his excellent name 

" R. S/' 

E. S. to her Daughter S. S. 

"Ballitore, 15th of Eighth Month, 1777. 
...... " Thy father, M., and I, set out for Moate, Fourth- 
day week. Our journey was attended with some little difficulties, 
but we were greatly favoured in getting safe home ; and, as our 
motive for going was, to be found in the w^ay of our duty, I hope it 
was acceptable. The public service of the meeting seemed chiefly to 
rest upon that faithful servant, Elizabeth Robinson, though most of 
the ministering Friends who were there, had acceptable service also. 
All tended to the one thing, — that is, to promote reformation amongst 
the professors of Truth, that they might become possessors of it ; 
which would be of more real value to us, by far, than any or all 
earthly enjoyments. So thou, my dear child, seek early and late for 
this pearl of price ! Forget not the constant, inward watchfulness 
unto prayer, that thou mayst be preserved from the many temptations 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 109 

that await thee on this stage of life. Beware, lest thy mind, through 
unwatchfulness, be too much drawn away after trifling objects. I 
do not mean admiring the beauties of the creation, which leads to 
adore the Power that caused them to be ; neither the improvements 
of sensible, useful members of civil society ; but many things that 
may present in variety of company, conversation, &c, though I hope 
thou art not in the way of such things, as many other young people 
are, who are much to be pitied. And those who are favoured with 
a careful education, have cause of humble thankfulness to the Author 
of all our blessings, that he was pleased to cast their lot in the way 
to be directed aright, while so many of our brethren, by creation, 
remain in darkness ; not being directed to look to the light to be their 
Leader, and the anointing to be their Guide. 

" E. S." 

R. S. TO HIS SON. 

"Dublin, 4th of Eleventh Month, 1777. 
" It is a capital favour to have a sound mind in a 



sound body. Indeed, the favours conferred on our house are very 
great and very numerous : the principal is the Divine visitation, 
which I wish may be embraced with due gratitude and humility by 
us all. It is an holy thing, not to be trifled with, not to be put in 
competition with any other thing ; not to be put off with a c Go/ 
and tarry yonder, and ' at a convenient season I will call for thee ;' 
but received with open heart, and into the uppermost chambers 
there. Next, health of body. Then, kind, and tender, and dear 
relations and friends, and the means of procuring every necessary of 
life. Let none of these favours escape our notice, but be the sub- 
jects of our grateful contemplation ; that so He that delights to do 
His creatures good, in blessing may continue to bless us, and to pro- 
tect and help us 

"R. S." 

From R. S. to D. C. 

" Ballitore, 15th of First Month, 1778. 

"My dear Cousin, 
" With respect to America, I am jealous lest some of 



our active, zealous friends there, have been too sanguine for British 

Government ;* even dignified personages in our Society, when from 

* During the time of the Americans' struggling for independence. 



110 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

under the fresh anointing, and meddling with matters out of the 
line of their proper business, may err in judgment, mistake their 
duty, and bring on themselves troubles, which the great Controller 
of human events, would, perhaps, have made a way for their escaping, 
if they had cast their care upon Him wholly, confided implicitly in 
Him, and only maintained in simplicity the testimony which we 
are called on to bear against all wars and fightings, without busying 
themselves concerning the right or wrong of the contest. Let that 
be as it may, our brethren in affliction claim our tender and true 
sympathy, — our prayers and petitions when able to offer them. For 
indeed the time of trial may be nearer to this land than we are 
aware, and all the fortitude which we can procure from the Author 
of all good, and the strengthening unity of our friends, may be little 
enough in the day of general calamity. 

" I am, my dear D., 
" Thy affectionate friend and kinsman, 

" B, S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Ballitore, 5th of Seventh Month, 1778. 
" My dear Cousin, 

" Thy account of T. C. is very agreeable, hope it will 



please divine Providence to spare him, and sanctify this dispensation 
to him. We want sanctified spirits amongst us ; we have worldly- 
wise people, we have some tolerably skilled in handling the outward 
law, and we have half-baked cakes ; but spirits tried as gold is tried, 
refined, baptized seven times, and so purified, we want in the house. 

It is likely thou hast heard of two of our Friends in 

America dying of the camp fever, in the place of their exile, John 
Hunt and Thomas Gilpin, that the former had previously suffered the 
amputation of his leg ; I am told that the survivors obtained liberty 
to return home, on the application of some of their wives to the 

Congress We hear that dear, honest Thomas Gawthorpe 

has been deeply dipped into sympathy with Friends there, so that in 
consideration of their distress and famine, he could not eat a plea- 
sant meal himself; that one of his daughters had saved £50. in his 
absence ; that on his coming home, he immediately inquired into her 
savings or earnings for him, and finding that she had got together 
that sum, and had put it oat to interest, that he immediately took 
it up, and applied it to the relief of his suffering brethren in 
America, though perhaps it was the bulk of his living 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. Ill 

" The good prospect there is of thy whole flock, manifests under 
whose gracious care and protection they have mercifully been, 
even His whose covenants and promises are sure. May it above all 
things be our solicitude to cultivate an interest with Him, who has 
all power in His hand, and controls human events at His pleasure ; in 
the first place, taking diligent heed to ourselves, and then as we feel 
our minds enlarged and influenced, not only temporally, but spiri- 
tually, ' ready to distribute, willing to communicate,' which is the 
way to ' lay up in store a good foundation against the time to come ;' 
and to this we are also further encouraged by this expression, ' to do 
good, and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is 
well pleased.' How widely different are the consequences annexed 
to the condition of, ' If ye be willing and obedient/ and that of, 
1 But if ye refuse and rebel V In our little communications of this 
sort as Truth may open our minds, let us attend to the apostle's 
remark and exhortation, ' He which soweth sparingly shall reap also 
sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bounti- 
fully ;' and let us give, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for ' God 
loveth a cheerful giver.' 

"R. S." 

On the 22nd of Seventh Month, 1778, that respectable woman, 
Deborah Carleton, died, at the age of sixty-five. The following 
letter gives ample testimony of her estimable character.* 

B. S. to his Daughter G . 



" BaUitore, 27th of Seventh Month, 1778. 

"Our loss, to be sure, is great, in thy beloved aunt, 

Deborah Carleton, as she was both a sensible and sincere woman. 
She was watchful over our interests, and over the interest and 
welfare of our children, with an anxious, tender, affectionate solici- 
tude ; and, as she had long experience of the world, was very capable 
of advising respecting it. 

" The children, as might be thought, mourned, and will mourn 
the removal of so near and dear a friend, relation, guardian, assistant, 

* In the almost maternal care which, as has been before remarked, D. C. 
extended towards R. and E. S.'s children, she was aided by an excellent 
servant, Elizabeth Widdows, whom she brought up from a child ; who was 
religiously inclined, had a good understanding, and was not without some 
literary taste. She assisted her mistress in giving a bias to the minds of 
her interesting charge, in favour of what was good and honourable ; and 
was justly esteemed and beloved. 



112 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

instructor, and companion ; but the dispensation will, I trust, be of 
benefit to their spirits, and time will wear off the keen edge of grief. 
She died the 22nd, and we interred her remains yesterday, after the 
rise of the forenoon meeting. It was concluded best not to bring 
them to the meeting. The dead was not there ; but, through infi- 
nite kindness, the living who attended were favoured with the bap- 
tizing power and presence of the Lord. Our dear friend James 
Gough came from Dublin on the occasion, and had a good time in 
testimony at the meeting : in testimony again and supplication, 
with renewed evidence of good, at the grave. The exemplary life 
and good qualities of the deceased were spoken to, in allusion to 
Cornelius the Centurion : ' Thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are 
had in remembrance in the sight of God/ And it is the crown 
of our comfort, that not only her passage out of this life was made 
so easy, that at the last she seemed only to cease to breathe ; but at 
the solemnity of her interment, there was felt so strong and well- 
grounded a hope of her translation from a painful body to a place of 
rest and happiness, which hope was borne testimony to, I think, in 
a good degree of the life and authority of Truth. Our invaluable, 
steady, sincere friend, Elizabeth Pike, who is so hard to be pre- 
vailed on to pay visits, or stay unnecessarily from home, has con- 
tinued with us ever since, and does not purpose to leave us till 
to-morrow. I think I never knew such another, (man or woman,) 
for firm, steady friendship : her company is of great use, and a con- 
solation to thy mother. She came with intention to administer 
comfort to my dear sister ; but that comfort was reserved for her 

survivors I doubt not the kindness of thy friends and 

relations in visiting thee in thy trouble. Give all our dear love to 
them all. I love them that love thee. E. Pike joins us in dear 
love to thee. May kind Providence bless and protect thy little ones, 
saith thy truly affectionate father. 

" R S." 

From R. S. to D. C. 

" Ballitore, 15th of Eleventh Month, 1778. 
"My dear Cousin, 

" It is not for want of thoughtfulness about thee, that I have 
been silent while thou hast been in trouble. Bare words are easily 
spoken ; but to minister consolation, by words or any other mode, is 
not at our command. There is a treasury, a repository, but we do 
not keep the key of it. Thou knowest it to be so. It has been 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 113 

opened for thee by Him who keeps the key. He has fed thee out of 
it, and sustained thee with hidden manna, His love was always to 
thee, and His chastisements have been the stripes of a tender Father. 
Yea, I believe, He will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Thou 
hast passed, and may have again to pass, and we all have had to 
pass, through the gloom and horror of the shadow of death, in 
respect to our near friends and relations ; but the arm of God's 
power is sufficient, and it only is sufficient effectually to support 
and comfort our spirits in these trying hours. Look that way, my 
beloved friend, and let thy dependence be there. So shall these 
momentary afflictions work the end for which with unerring wisdom, 
they have been sent, even to reduce and refine thee as pure and 
beaten gold, to fit thee for more fully coming up in thy several 
duties in this life, and prepare thee for a state of unmixed felicity 
in the next. In seasons of this sort of domestic troubles, kind 
friends and courteous neighbours, are apt rather to overload with 
their visits : they mean to help, but they sometimes hurt by detach- 
ing the mind from a silent solid waiting for the springing up of the 
well of true consolation. Many are strangers to the efficacious virtue 
which proceedeth from Him, the hem of whose garment we should 
industriously press through the crowd, that we may touch with a 
lively faith, and witness thereby a renewal of our spiritual strength. 
But as we become weary of such comforters, and retire to the Beloved 
of souls, pouring out our prayers and tears before him, that he may 
be pleased to continue us and ours in his holy keeping and disposal, 
that he may correct us, but with his judgments and not in anger, 
lest he bring us to nothing ; then he is pleased to speak peace unto 
us, and we see that it is in mercy and in perfect wisdom that we are 
thus tried and proved : so can bless his name who gives and who 
takes away at his pleasure, and an humble dutiful acquiescence with 
his will possesses our souls. May this be, and I have no doubt but 
this has been, thy experience, my dear cousin, and I rejoice in the 
belief that as thou becomest more and more sequestered, separated, 
and dedicated, thou wilt more and more feel of that substantial, ever- 
lasting good, which is superior to every possible calamity, whether 
public or domestic. In the fresh sense of cordial amity replenishing 
my heart with endeared love to thee and thine, I dearly salute 
you and bid you affectionately farewell, 



114 memoirs of richard shackleton. 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Ballitore, 29th of Twelfth Month, 1778. 

" The accounts now most recent among us from America 

are, that Friends there have suffered exceedingly in their property, 
Thomas and Susanna Lightfoot among the rest, — that there were 1 78 
Friends in prison in Philadelphia, mostly for refusing to bear arms ; 
— that two Friends, Abraham Carlisle and John Roberts, (the latter 
a rich man having a large family and of good esteem,) were under 
sentence of death, and confined in the dungeon, — that one of them 
had his legs much hurt, some said cut to the bone by the straitness 
of the fetters, — that application had been made to Congress, and 
orders given to have them eased : in short that extreme sufferings 
attended our Friends there, information being taken against them 

from any envious person that chooses to accuse them 

" Thy truly affectionate friend and kinsman, 

" B, 8." 

R. S. to his Son. 

"Ballitore, ISth of Second Month, 1779. 

"I hope to be at the solemnization of your marriage, 

and trust that if we keep to a right preparation of heart, the Great 
Master will favour us with his presence. Thou sayst, and truly, 
that solemnity causes inward strength ; but the heart must witness 
a preparation for the solemnity. This preparation of heart, this 
cleansing our way, is only effected by taking heed thereto, according 
to the dictates of the in-speaking Word. Keep pace with this, and 
in all your previous transactions do nothing contrary to this, and I 
doubt not but you will be strengthened to go through the public 
part which you have still to act, in a manner suitable to the occasion. 
Eemember the advice which Mary gave at that honourable marriage, 
to which both Jesus and his disciples were called : ' Whatever he 
saith unto you, do it ;' and the consequence was, that the plain, 
simple water-pots for purification, were made to contain most ex- 
cellent wine. You are both very dear to me : I love you both as 
one. You are the companions of my thoughts, and subjects of my 
prayers. You must bear with me then, if, with parental tenderness 
and affection, I earnestly recommend to you the path which leads to 
present and future happiness. It is not a path in , which the world 
walks, for the friendship of the world is enmity with God, — but it is 
a path of holiness and self-denial ; it is a path of lowliness and 
purity, but it is a path in which is found substantial peace. May 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 115 

you walk hand in hand through life in this path, encouraging one 
another in every good word and work, true helpmates in prosperity 
and adversity ; c looking unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah 
that bare you/ — i. e. calling to your frequent recollection your an- 
cestors, male and female, from whom you are descended ; men and 
women devoted in all their noble faculties to the cause of Truth, 
which is the cause of genuine Christianity ; worthies whose names 
are of sweet memorial, and will very probably be transmitted, with 
real honour, to latest posterity. ( Mark the perfect man, and behold 
the upright ; for the end of that man is peace.' And it is the end 

which we should still keep in view 

" R S." 

On the day on which his son was married to Lydia Mellor, R. S. 
wrote to his wife. 

" Dublin, 23rd of Second Month, 1779. 

" My dear Love, 

" This day is over : it is near nine o'clock. It has been a 
memorable day, to be commemorated by me and mine with humble 
gratitude. The meeting was solemn and favoured. The spirit of 
thy poor husband, prostrated in reverent, humble gratitude, and bap- 
tized in the deeps. Surely if this connexion was not of the Lord, 
surely his power would not be so evidently felt in the solemnization 
of it. Gratitude, my dear, gratitude has overcome my heart for 
this addition of favour. We have had this evening a good religious 
opportunity after tea, in which dear James Gough was, I think, 
well concerned ; as he was remarkably in the public meeting, both 
in testimony, before the parties took each other in marriage, and 
afterwards in supplication 

" Lydia is really an engaging young woman. I hope we shall 
have comfort in her, and that she will do her husband good, and not 

evil, all the days of their living together 

" R. S." 

By this marriage another branch was grafted into the stock of this 
family ; a branch bearing good fruit, in every sense of the word ; 
worthy of her descent from Margaret Fell, (Fox ;) and helping to 
fill the vacuum, and heal the wound, caused by the recent loss of a 
beloved relation, (D. C.) On his son's marriage, R. S. resigned the 
school to him, and retired to the house where his father had lived. 

i2 



116 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACK.LETON. 

It may not be unappropriate to make a short mention here, of 
some of those domestics, by whose upright conduct and fidelity 
R. S/s pious concern for the right ordering of the family had been 
essentially promoted. A young Friend from the county of Wexford 
was servant to R. S. and his first wife : she was a person of much 
simplicity and little cultivation, but truly wise in having ' chosen 
the good part/ which was ' never taken from her/ She married 
James M'Connaughty, who also settled in the family. This worthy 
couple had no children, but they loved those of their master with 
nearly the same affection as if they had been their own ; and this 
love was fondly returned, and a tender respect paid to their memory, 
by those whose infancy they had cherished, and whose youth they 
watched over for good. James, after some years, took a mill of his 
master, and removed to it, obtaining, in the country, the title of 
' honest James/ He died in 1780, of a short illness, and his widow 
returned to her master's house, where she survived him ten years. 
They had been blest with mutual happiness in each other, and with 
the protection of Him whom they loved above all. For several years 
the station of housekeeper at the school was also filled by a religious 
Friend. 

The dwelling which became the residence of Richard and 
Elizabeth Shackleton, when they relinquished the important charge 
that had devolved upon them, received from R. S. the name of the 
Retreat. Here, loosened from the ties, and released from the re- 
sponsibility which had in some degree limited their general sphere 
of action, they became still more dedicated to the service of the 
Society. 

R. S. to Hannah Plumpstead, Jun. 

" Ballitore, 4th of Fourth Month, 1779. 

" My own little family is very comfortably settled, and my desires 
are, that our present ease and tranquillity may be received at the 
hand of the munificent, merciful Donor, with humble gratitude and 
devotedness of heart, that He may be graciously pleased to continue 
to us His benefits and protection. His eye, my dear friend, marks 
us : He sees whether in prosperity we acknowledge Him, the author 
of it, and whether He be the principal in all our thoughts. He is a 
Friend, who, if we give ourselves to be limited and directed by Him 
in prosperity, will, as we cling closely to Him, effectually help us in 
the day of adversity and distress. 

" Samuel Spavold, and Thomas Carrington, after paying a very 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 117 

acceptable visit to Friends of this nation, in all, or most of their 
meetings, and man}' of their families, have lately, I understand, 
sailed for Liverpool. You have now, I suppose, our dear friends, 
Samuel Neale and Joseph Garratt, with you. I believe they will 
be helped with best help in their Master's service, that they will go 
down deep, and bring up memorials of the authenticity of their com- 
mission. I wish, the hearts of those amongst whom they labour, were 
as open to receive the Master and his doctrine, as their ears are open 
to receive the message of his servants 



R. S. J 



In 1779, Sarah Newland, a valuable Friend and approved minister, 
was concerned to visit the meetings of Friends throughout this island. 
R. and E. S. who knew her worth, her patience, and her trials, united 
in the general concurrence of her friends with her prospect. They 
did more : they yielded to a like impulse, and gave her their com- 
pany and conveyance for travelling. It was an arduous undertaking ; 
but in simplicity and singleness of heart they accomplished it. 

In this journey, E. S/s notes mention several Friends then living, 
about eighty years of age. Amongst them, Joseph and Abigail 
Smithson, who feeble and aged as they were, accompanied them some 
miles to the next meeting ; John Wright of Ballinclay, who had 
built a new meeting-house at his own expense, and gave to Friends a 
lease of it, and of a piece of ground for a burial-place. She concludes, 
4th of Eighth Month, 1779 : u Got well to Ballitore, with humble 
thankfulness in our minds for the many favours and preservations 
afforded to us, and for the blessing of peace in the discharge of this 
office of friendship and duty/' 

During his absence from them, R. S. enlivened his family by his 
pleasant and instructive correspondence. 

R. S. to his Daughter Deborah. 

"Dungannon, 13th of Fifth Month, 1779. 
" My dear child, I am going about espousing the con- 
cern and engagement of another, for the propagation of true religion, 
and sometimes feeling some degree of engagement in my own mind 
for the same. Thou mayst, therefore, expect that my letters should 
contain and convey some religious matter and tincture. But I 
seldom find any opportunities, of a religious kind, more deeply and 
solidly beneficial to my spirit, than those which I meet with in my 
seasons of private retirement at home. To this assiduous, diligent 
waiting for, and seeking after, the resurrection of a Divine life, 



118 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

inwardly stirring in their own minds, I above all things, recommend 
my dear children, as the surest way to be preserved, as well as to 
grow and thrive in religious experience. 

" R. S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Lisburn, 18th of Fifth Month, 1779. 

" There is a number of young people up and down, 

hopeful and promising, who do not prefer the tinsel vanities of this 
world, to the substantial comforts of Divine favour. They are not 
compatible together : the idol which the uncircumcised nature wor- 
ships, cannot stand where the ark of the testimony dwells. We 
must choose which we would serve ; and on making a right choice, 
and persevering therein, depends our everlasting happiness. Oh ! 
my children, be wise, and make glad the hearts of your tender, affec- 
tionate father and mother, who watch over you, with a solicitous 
care, for your good. Be humble and be meek, that you may be 
taught of the ways of the Lord, and your understanding guided in 
sound judgment. So will you be as happy as the condition of mortal 
man can be ; in yourselves feeling renewedly the evidence, assurance 
and earnest of a blessed immortality, and you will come up successors 
in the maintenance of the noblest Cause which ever was, or ever will 
be upon earth. No honour equal to that of being the servants of 
Christ ; no wages of such high value as he liberally bestows. The 
time hastens, with unremitting speed, which will decide on each of 
us. The past is irrevocable, the future uncertain ; therefore, now 
is the accepted time, and now is the opportunity which should be 
laid hold on, and diligently improved by us all, and each of us. 

" K 8." 

R. S. to Lydia Shackleton. 

" Waterford 17th of Seventh Month, 1779. 

" My dear Lydia, 

" When I had written one side of a letter this morning, here- 
with sent to thy husband, I received an affecting epistle from him, 
dated as yesterday. His lines, (for I know his honest heart) are 
the genuine effusions of a mind then immediately impressed with a 
lively, tendering sense of multiplied heavenly and earthly favours. 
May it be your care, renewedly to seek after the arising of the virtue 
and power of Truth in your minds, which will enable you often to 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 119 

put up such offerings — offerings grateful both to God and man ! I 
accept, with joy, this incense of gratitude offered to me ; and I pray 
God to cherish in the hearts of you both, those humble, sweet, and 
grateful sensations which are of his own kindling, and find accept- 
ance with him. My beloved children ! your station allotted you in 
life is arduous and complicated, and ye cannot fill it up, with 
propriety, without Divine wisdom. Make it, therefore, (as young 
Solomon did,) your first choice, that ye may go in and out, (i. e. in 
the modern phrase, behave) wisely before your numerous family, and 
the necessarily consequent numerous connexions and appendages 
of it. The friendship which the world professes is, generally, capri- 
cious and insincere : their favour is deceitful, and their applause 
uncertain ; but, by commending ourselves to the consciences of all 
men in our dealings with them, and, in the way of our occupation, 
doing service to God rather than to man, we shall be upheld over 
and above the fluctuating tempers of men — over their insidious 
smiles, as well as their over-bearing frowns. So help you God, in 
his mercy, prays your truly affectionate father, who has tasted of 
good and evil, and has had some experience in the ways and manners 
of men ; and who, upon the whole of his observation and his feelings, 
bears this testimony to you, the objects of his dear, parental affec- 
tion, that to walk humbly in the fear of the Lord, — to act in all 
respects consistently with His law, written in our consciences, — and 
to be diligent in cultivating seasons of renewed acquaintance with 
Him, by inward retirement, are our combined duty and interest. 

" With great propriety and delicacy thy husband also makes me 
acquainted with the pleasing prospect of the continuation of our 
name on the earth ; a name not rendered (that I know of) illus- 
trious among men by wealth, worldly honours, and titles conferred 
on the possessors of it ; but which has been made respectable by 
several of our ancestors, who, in their measure, walked with God ; 
and God took them, and gave them a name among his saints in 
light 

" For the first time I subscribe myself, with great pleasure, 
" My dear Lydia's affectionate father. 

" R S." 

From R. S. to Hannah Plumpstead, Jun. 

" Ballitore, 15th of Eighth Month, 1779. 

" My wife has been accompanying a valuable ministering Friend, in 
a concern which she had to pay a religious visit to some parts, and I 



120 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

apprehended it lawful for me to go along witli them and take care of 
my wife. Few places where I have been, pleased me better than 
Samuel Neale's. His dwelling is a short walk from the city of Cork, 
it is neat and elegant, and commands a delightful prospect. He be- 
came possessed of this place by his wife, a pleasing, sensible, religious 
Friend. Samuel, (as a bishop should be,) is given to hospitality. 
The pleasantness of his dwelling, but more especially his agreeable, 
edifying conversation, brings many persons from the town to visit 
him, and on a First-day, there is generally an opportunity at his 
house, when the young visited plants are watered by gospel showers. 
How noble and pleasing is it thus to answer the end of his creation, 
and to devote himself, and all that he has. to the exaltation of his 
Master's cause, and the good of souls. 

" My son and his Lydia go on so far, I hope, prosperously, they 
have the burden of the business upon their shoulders, by which we 
are exonerated from a good deal of cumber ; but yet, diligence, dili- 
gence, seems necessary for us all, and by how much more, through 
the power of Divine Providence, we are made exempt from worldly 
care, by so much the more industrious we should be, in feeling after 
the operation of Truth on our mind, to prepare the daily sacrifice 
for ourselves individually, and to qualify us to walk acceptably and 
perform our relative duties aright. For my part I think I never felt 
myself so poor, so weak, and in so great need of condescending, all- 
sufficient Help, in every respect, as of late. This, I own, is a state 
that I love, for without a sense of our wants, how can we cry to our 
heavenly Father, and what help and relief is so effectual as even a 
little that cometh from him ? 

" There is great and urgent necessity for each of us to be alive and 
strong in the root ; if all be well there, the sap will rise in its season, 
and branches, buds, leaves, and fruit, will follow in course. 

" R. S." 

From R. S. to D. C. 

" Ballitore, 22nd of Eighth Month, 1779. 

" My dear Cousin, 

" and her brother do not hit it together right, 

though they visit and speak. This difference, hardness, shyness, 
where it gets in and makes a lodgment, effectually drives out all that 
is good. People may be moral in their lives, plain in their appear- 
ance, orthodox in their opinions, and even active in religious Society ; 
yet if this charity, this pure love of God and man, which is of Divine 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 121 

original, be -wanting, what are they ? Not Christians, I fear, in 
reality, — at least some have not so learned Christ. My beloved 
friend, keep thou much alone, and unconnected in fellowship of 
spirit with any, except such as thy spirit is drawn near to in the 
depths of humbling baptism. This wait for often ; be this thy home, 
where thou wilt find charity to begin, and to diffuse itself in thy 
mind, and spread towards the household of faith, and mankind in 
general. In this state thou wilt see what is thy duty, and be fitted 
for the performance of it ; make no more vain excuses, nor be rea- 
soning as with flesh and blood. The Lord, whom I trust, my very 
dear cousin, we would wish to serve, is gracious indeed, and mer- 
ciful, and long-suffering, yet we may weary him, as it were, with 
our reluctances and disobediences, as he complained of his people 
formerly, ' Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt- 
offerings, neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices '/ even 
the small cattle he does not despise at the hand of his own poor ; 
they offer according to their little ability, and therein they rejoice, 
and, as they continue faithful, will witness an increase of their joy. 
Happy indeed, above all people, are the Lord's servants ; He has' 
himself pronounced and discriminated their happiness in contrariety 
to others — ' Behold my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry ; 
behold my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty ; behold my 
servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed ; behold my servants 
shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and 
shall howl for vexation of spirit.' This subject has quite unex- 
pectedly turned up, I will leave it, and make no apology to so near 

and dear a friend 

" I am, my dear cousin, 

" Thy truly affectionate friend, 

"R. S." 

R. S. TO HIS DAUGHTER MARY. 

" Ballitore, 29 th of Eighth Month, 1779. 

" Paul Kenna's family have been in a fever. The 

mother recovered ; the father's state still doubtful ; the son, their 
only child, the prop and comfort of the family, a fine, hopeful youth, 
has just now expired. Surely this is a vale of tears. We had need 
take care of health while we enjoy it : we ought to be exceedingly 
thankful for it, as well as for the tranquillity, public and domestic, and 
those necessaries and conveniences of life which we still enjoy. . . . 

" B, S." 



122 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

Soon after the date of the above, the daughter to whom it was 
addressed was seized with a fever in Dublin, at the house of the 
kind family friends, Joseph and Elizabeth Pike, where she expe- 
rienced such kindness as claimed and excited strong emotions of 
gratitude. Her mother and sister went to her, and attended her 
through a dangerous illness. Her anxious father on this occasion 
thus expresses himself. 

R. S. TO HIS DAUGHTER DEBORAH. 

" Ballitore, 16th of Ninth Month, 1779. 

" Thy letter, my dear Debby, be sure, alarmed us yesterday, 
though couched in the most moderate terms. We hardly know 
sometimes how dear persons and things are to us, till we are in 
danger of losing them I know, and at times feel, the in- 
stability and uncertainty of visible enjoyments. I am sensible that 
we have not long to stay together on this earth. Our conflicts and 
troubles here will soon be over ; and if, through the mercy of Divine 
Providence, we be preserved from evil while here, our souls will be 
centred in rest and peace hereafter. It therefore becomes us all to 
seek after resignation, and submission to that high and holy Hand, 
which doth all things well. Perhaps, by this dispensation of afflic- 
tion and pain, He means to reduce the creaturely part of our dear 
child ; to purify her spirit, and prepare it to offer those sacrifices 
without blemish, with which He is always well pleased : sacrifices 
not kindled by the fire of her own lively imagination, nor offered 
upon an altar raised by any artificial tool ; but those spiritual hymns, 
and songs, and melody, which are of Divine origin, and still tend 
towards their Original, ascending and descending, like Jacob's ladder, 
which had communication between earth and heaven. 

" In the tenderest manner whisper in my dear child's ear that I 
love her very dearly, and hope in due time to embrace her in my fond 
arms ; — that the neighbours, and friends, and relations here are very 
inquisitive about her ; — and that her speedy recovery is the subject 
of our earnest desires. It seems unnecessary for me to say further, 

while her tender and excellent mother is near I need not 

bid thee do all in thy power to keep up thy mother's spirits ; but 
I charge thee, endeavour to support thy own. 

" R. S." 






MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 123 

R. S. to his Wife. 

" Ballitore, Ninth Month, 1779. 

"I am thankful that through all, and through all my 

own many infirmities, I have a place in the hearts of the generality 
of my friends ; having been preserved from retaliating evil for evil, 
but still endeavouring to overcome evil with good. And I am thank- 
ful that, as to natural things, the little meal in the barrel, and the 
little oil in the erase, has not, through the favour of our great Bene- 
factor, yet failed ; nor is the spring of humble, and I trust holy 
gratitude, dried up in me, for the capital favour of such a wife and 
such children as I am blessed with ; but, on the contrary, I may 
figuratively say, rivers of grateful tears run down my eyes for the 
same. If our dear Mary be restored to us, it will be a particular 
additional favour 

" Remember me, in the most affectionate and grateful manner, to 
J. and E. Pike, whose house we trouble, not' only as an inn, but an 
hospital. I can do little in return for such manifold favours ; but 
I have prayed that retribution may be made them for their kindness, 
by Him who has all power to bless. 

" R S." 

R. S. to his Son. 

" Ballitore, 1779. 

" I rejoice, and partake, and join in the harmony which thou 
mentionest to subsist in our family. Each of us has the high fit, 
the low fit, and the cross fit ; and if there be not mutual forbear- 
ance and condescension, we shall lose peace on earth. In music 
there are not only different chords and strings, but stops and pauses. 
Let us seek to be ordered and modulated by the soul of harmony, 
Divine love ; and if we cannot go forward in service, and find our 
own minds not under present qualification to help others, let us 
stand still till we renewedly feel and know that good is present with 
us. Thus minding our stops and movings, the locking and unlock- 
ing of the key, which opens and none can shut, and shuts and 
none can open, we shall walk wisely and usefully in our several lots 

in life 

" R. S." 



124 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

From R. S. to D. C. 

" Ballitore, 23rd of Ninth Month, 1779. 

" I doubt not, but has his bufferings and conflicts 

as well as other folk. The enemies of our own houses watch their 
opportunity to hurt and annoy us. The enemies of the Cross of 
Christ and of the discipline of the church, wage and have waged long 
war with the house of David ; but whether it be Scripture or not, it 
is most true that the Lamb and his followers will get the victory. 
Whoever stands on the bottom and ground of Truth, and keeps in the 
meek, innocent spirit, will assuredly sooner or later prevail 

" The continuance of our Christian Society, as a light in the 
world depends much on the visited youth giving up all, surrender- 
ing at discretion, without any capitulating, in order to preserve this 
or that favourite object alive, which ought to be slain. We have 
many half baked cakes, flitting morning clouds, and momentary 
early dews among us. All states have their trials, and temptations, 
and in faithfulness or disobedience lies our increasing strength or 
weakness. Little trivial circumstances of dress or other light 
matters are presented by the enemy to young and tender minds. 
The sure Friend and Monitor in their bosoms dehorts from entering 
into the temptation, here the conflict begins, army against army ; 
the free agents have to make the choice which standard they will 
join, and in this choice is involved their safety, their preservation, 
and capacity for further growth in holy stability and religious 
experience. In their making a right choice, and in their diligent 
waiting for renewed help to persevere in that choice (through 

Divine mercy) consists their happiness in time and eternity 

" Thy truly affectionate friend and kinsman, 

"R. S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Ballitore, Uth of Twelfth Month, 1779. 

" My dear Cousin, 

U I am favoured with thine of 6th instant, which is very accept- 
able, we are concerned that thou hast been so much indisposed ; I 
wish it may be consistent with the Divine will that thou be favoured 
(after all thy past troubles) with a portion of health and tranquillity, 
and to enjoy thy near connexions, partakers of the same blessings. 
However, if it seem meet to Infinite Wisdom that our tranquillity 
be disturbed, that the lives of our clearest friends and relations be 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 125 

touched, and that adversity in one shape or other be our lot, what 
can we poor, weak, creatures do, but in all lowliness submit to the 
Hand which smites, seeking with filial fear and solicitude to 
place ourselves and those we love, under the Divine protection, and 
leave the issue of all to a merciful Creator ? Let us not anticipate 
trouble. ' Sufficient to the day, is the evil thereof/ Every cloud 
that gathers does not burst into a storm. As sometimes troubles 
come upon us which we did not expect, so at other times the cala- 
mity which we feared, is suspended or averted. Through all, the 
Almighty Arm is sufficient to defend from above, and to support 
underneath. Be sure nothing happens to his children, without his 
providence, and if they but keep close enough to him, and wait with 
all diligence upon him, he will assuredly minister to them consolation 
adequate to their necessities. And this I am persuaded has been 
thy repeated experience 

" I understand that Thomas Colley is returned in peace and safety, 
having visited such of the West India Islands, as he could get himself 
conveyed to, in these perilous, turbulent times, and that he had found 
acceptance among the people, and a door of utterance. He returned 
(I suppose) a satisfactory account of his visit, to the Morning Meet- 
ing of London. I think in any chronicles of the history of our Society, 
there is hardly to be met with a greater instance of entire devotion 
and dedication than this visit of this dear, simple, worthy man at 
such a time 

" I have read John Griffith's journal, very entertaining and edify- 
ing it is ; but the low, degenerate state in which he describes our 
poor Society to be, must leave sorrowful traces on a tender, feeling 
mind. Yet these sensations may be profitable, tending to bring us 
into suffering with the Seed, and to stimulate us to seek diligently 
after best Help, that we may not by indolence and disobedience 
be treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, but be enabled to 
do each our duty in our day, by simply acting and living according 
to knowledge revealed, and lay up good treasure, against that day, 
in which the Lord Almighty will render to every man according to 
his deeds 

" I am, my dear D. C/s very affectionate friend and kinsman, 

" R. S." 



126 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

R. S. TO HIS DAUGHTER G. 

" Ballitore, 2Qth of Second Month, 1780. 

" My dear Margaret, 

" I received thine of the 18th, at my return from the Quarterly 
Meeting of Mountmellick. That meeting was large, and I think, as 
to instrumental help, favoured. James Gough and Mary Ridgway 
had, in my apprehension, good times. What a wonderful blessing 
to the church is a living ministry ! and how precious a thing and 
admirable it is for a human creature to be qualified to speak in the 
name of the Lord ! and for human nature to be influenced by a 
supernatural power ! The frequency of such appearances among us, 
like those of the sun, moon, and stars, and the process of vegetation, 
by the familiarity, takes off from the astonishment ; but still, great 
and marvellous are the works of the Almighty ! 

" R. S." 

After spending eight years in Ballitore, in improving and pleasing 
society, the comforts of which were increased by the placidity and 
cheerfulness of his own temper, Samuel Carleton died, of a slow, 
but not very painful illness, in great love and sweetness of mind ; 
thankful that he had been so long favoured with health, and not 
repining at the loss of it. 

R. S. to his Son. 

" Waterford, 20th of Third Month, 1780. 

" It is well to be useful members of civil society, 

and to endeavour to provide well for our families, in whose society 
we enjoy many comforts ; but the subordination of things is 
greatly wanting among many : primary considerations rank only as 
secondary, and secondary usurp the place of primary. The lip of 
Truth has settled the order, which man has reversed in his conduct. 
Christ says, ' seek first the kingdom ;' and assures, that necessary 
appurtenances and appendages shall be added. May you, my be- 
loved children united as you are in flesh, being united in a right 
spirit, seek first, principally, most earnestly, the favour of Heaven, 
that you may happily be objects of Divine notice and help. Solid, 
and arduous, and complicated are your duties and engagements ; 
and you never can fulfil them acceptably to God and man, without 
the Lord's blessed mediation, guidance, and protection. I often 
desire it for you, in humble prostration, and trust that in like manner 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 127 

you seek it for yourselves. As you suffer the leaveu of holiness and 
pure and undefiled religion, to operate upon and leaven your minds, 
you will infallibly do well. 

" Should you unhappily forget what Hand it is that feeds and 
supports you, and depend on your own sufficiency for preservation 
and prosperity, you are gone, my beloved children, and the joy of 
your father is gone with you ! Therefore, be ye humble, be watchful 
be diligent in renewedly seeking and feeling after the evidence of 
Divine favour and approbation upon your spirits, every day and every 
night, as you pass along, and as each day and night revolves ; that 
so God Almighty may bless you, instruct and assist you to live to 
his honour, and to the honour of the great and high profession 
which we make among men. So be it. 

"R S." 

In 1780, R. S. was again at the Yearly Meeting of London ; and 
from that time to the end of his life, constantly attended that 
solemnity, with the exception of the year 1786, when he set his son 
at liberty to go thither. & S. had made several valuable acquain- 
tances, when he was in England in 1776, some of whom were young 
in years, with whom he maintained a correspondence. His friends 
and he rejoiced to meet : he was much comforted in their company. 
The hospitable house of J. E. was open to him and most of the 
friends from Ireland, who experienced great kindness from that 
meek-spirited, excellent Friend, and his worthy wife and family. 
When he went to York, the vacuum left by the death of his uncle, 
seemed filled by the brotherly attentions of William Tuke, who, 
with his excellent wife and children, received him with true affection. 
On his way to, and sometimes from London, his visits to Abiah 
Darby combined a variety of comforts : his cheerful and improving 
society was duly appreciated by those whose natural tastes and ac- 
quirements were similar ; but far nearer were their spirits united, 
by the sweet influence of perfect Goodness, which drew them to 
mingle together in rejoicing and in suffering. The venerable mother, 
her daughters, Mary, Sarah, and Deborah, (the devoted Deborah, a 
mother in Israel,) are all names dear to those who knew them ; and 
here the repose of age, and the activity of youth, united to promote 
the love of the Creator, and the happiness of his creatures. 

In this year, his daughter Deborah accompanied him, previously 
to her marriage with Thomas Chandlee, of Athy, a small town six 
miles from Ballitore. 



128 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

R. S. to his Wife. 

" Butler's Court, near Beaconsfield, 
" 25th of Fifth Month, 1780. 

" The Yearly Meeting being over, I went to see Edmund 

Burke. Having given him notice of the hour of my intended visit, 
he had come from the House of Commons, and was ready, with his 
family, to receive me. The friendship, the freedom, the cordiality 
with which he and his embraced me, was rather more than might be 
expected from long love. I could not well avoid coming with him 
to this place, which is most beautiful, on a very large scale : the 
house, furniture, ornaments, conveniences, all in a grand style. Six 
hundred acres of land, woods, pleasure-grounds, gardens, green-house, 
&c. For my part, I stand astonished at the man and at his place 
of abode : a striking parallel may be drawn between them ; they are 
sublime and beautiful indeed. 

" I awoke early this morning, as usual, and was glad to find no 
condemnation ; but, on the contrary, ability to put up fervent peti- 
tions, with much tenderness, on behalf of this luminary 

" Dr. Fothergill moved, to my great satisfaction, to have the 
Yearly Meeting stationary, and not regulated by the anniversary of 
a moveable feast. * It is to be taken into consideration at the next 

sitting of that great and solemn assembly 

" B, S * 

From the Same to the Same. 

"Bristol, 10th of Sixth Month, 1780. 

" There are dreadful accounts coming here daily from 

London, of an insurrection of many thousands of the populace : 
pulling down Romish chapels, and breaking open prisons, and doing 
great damage to the persons, houses, and furniture of individuals, 
nobility, gentry, &c. Our friend, Edmund Burke, most happily, 
(by the interposition, I trust, of Divine Providence) escaped out of 
their hands ; for I suppose they had him awhile in their power, 
He pleaded his own cause with the mad multitude ; and the Con- 
troller of all things so overruled their wicked, desperate, furious 
spirits, that they let him go unhurt. 

" R. S." 

* The time called Whitsuntide. 



memoirs of richard shackleton. 129 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Clonmel, ±th of Ninth Month, 1780. 

"I venerate the name and character of an ambassador 

of Christ ; and I also am disposed to think favourably of those 
whom, after long experience, I have deemed valuable Friends : there- 
fore, feeling little or nothing any way, I stand as it were neuter in 
my judgment, and find it best for me not even to give a liberty to 
thought, nor to meddle in other folks' matters. Our high and holy 
profession is a great house, built not by man, but for God ; and 
supernatural wisdom must qualify for servants and officers in this 
house, or it will be dishonoured, and the Master be displeased. Too 
much backwardness, and too much officiousness, are equally offen- 
sive. My desire is, my dear love, for us and for ours, whom I have 
many times found ability to dedicate to the service of this house, 
that the great Master of the family would instruct us to perform our 
several duties acceptably before him, if he should honour us with 
any of his commands ; and if not, that he would be graciously pleased 
to preserve us from evil, walking in lowness and simplicity, yet 
acceptably before him. 

"R. S." 

R. S. to a Friend in the Ministry. 

" Ballitore, 25th of Seventh Month, 1780. 
"Dear Friend, 

" I trust, in the visit paid you, we commended our- 
selves to the consciences of the visited, as those who sought not 
ourselves, nor the prevalence of any party ; but solely the prevalence 
of Truth, the welfare of all. As to myself, who am one of the least 
in the family, my mind was much covered with love to you, and my 
attention drawn to thee in a particular manner. I thought I saw 
that from the gift which thou hadst received, and the place which 
thou held in the regard and esteem of the generality, thou might be 
of peculiar use and service in that city ; to defeat which gracious 
purpose of Heaven, no doubt but the grand adversary of all good 
will employ his engines, and he who had the effrontery to tempt the 
Master himself, (though in vain,) will not fail to lay his snares for 
the servant, how high soever his attainments may be. May thy 
spirit be so reduced, and self in its various modifications so cast out, 
that when the prince of this world cometh, he may have nothing in 
thee, — he may find no desire of applause, popularity, or pre-eminence, 

K 



130 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

to work upon. And as thou witnessest from time to time, and 
patiently abidest, the stripping, purging seasons, which are absolutely 
necessary for the fruit-bearing branches to bring forth more fruit in 
the progression of heavenly virtue, thou wilt, I trust, in the Lord's 
time (not thy own,) feel the sap of life rising, to thy own inexpres- 
sible comfort ; thy leaf, the ornament and comeliness of the tree, 
as well as defence of the fruit against the sunshine of deceitful 
favour, shall not wither ; but whatsoever thou doest at the Master's 
bidding, be it ever so little, shall prosper. Believe me, my dear 
friend, it is not any life which I have in writing on these subjects, 
nor affectation in sitting in the seat of judgment, which induces me 
to use this freedom of speech ; but my cordial affection for thee, and 
the strong desire which I feel that the splendidly useful gift entrusted 
to thee might be occupied to the honour of the Giver, the edifica- 
tion of the Church, and thy own substantial peace. We may have 
natural or acquired abilities, we may have spiritual gifts and graces 
conferred upon us, useful in their kinds and their places ; but if they 
tend to exalt the creaturely, the fleshly part, — if we look more at 
the splendour of the gift, than at the Giver, — if we endeavour to 
deck ourselves with the Lord's jewels, and to be conspicuous in the 
eyes of others, seeking the praise of men more than of God, we shall 
suffer great loss ; the gift may for a while be continued, for the sake 
of the people ; but it will decrease in beauty and lustre, and perhaps 
be wholly taken away, while the capricious applause of unstable men 
will be changed into contempt. On the contrary, not seeking honour 
one of another, but the honour which cometh from God only ; when 
a very little matter comes before us to deliver, not looking at the 
smallness of the morsel, but whether the Divine blessing be upon it, 
let us not be ashamed to hand the little even to the multitude ; being 
set home by the power of Truth to the conscience, it may be altoge- 
ther sufficient. It is remarkable how the wisest of men, who spoke 
three thousand proverbs, expresses himself concerning a single word, 
— ' A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver \ 
— and again, ' A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth ;' — 
and, ' A word spoken in due season, how good is it !' Thou 
knowest, my dear friend, — thou hast sorrowfully felt, that a great 
depravity has overtaken us ; — the people are too much outward, they 
have, many of them, forsaken the Fountain of living waters, and 
chosen to themselves this and the other cistern, at which they would 
drink ; their souls are not bowed in silent, solemn worship ; silent 
meetings are foolishness to them, like the Israelites when they re- 
jected the Lord, f Now make us a King to judge us like all the 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 131 

nations/ This spirit is to be famished, not fed. But I will quit 
this subject. May Divine wisdom guide thee, may Divine power 
humble and exalt thee, and may thy God preserve thee from all 
manner of evil, now and forever. 

" Thy affectionate friend, 

" R. S." 

R. S. to his Daughter Deborah. 

"Clonmel, 8th of Ninth Month, 1780. 

U I am pleased thou hast got one step towards thy 

solemn engagement, I hope, well over. The benediction of our good 
old friend Robert Leckey was grateful to me also, as well as to 
thee. I hope you will often, both severally and unitedly seek for 
the immediate descending of that blessing which maketh truly rich 
and adds no sorrow with it. The riches of this world, accumulated 
even by honest industry, without having the great Disposer of all 
things in view, and acting about the affairs of this life in His holy 
fear, are often the means of inexpressible perplexity and disquiet, 
sometimes of the most dreadful evils. Whereas, a looking, a lean- 
ing, an humble dependence on Him that feeds the ravens, and in 
the concatenation of the events ordered by His providence, caused 
the same ravens to feed His prophet, is the way to procure the Divine 
blessing to be superadded, and prevents that sorrow which worketh 
death to the innocent, happy, composed life. But though I thus 
indulge a freedom in writing, I think I well know both your hearts, 
and that they are in that place where treasures of a far more noble 
kind than any this world can afford, are laid up for the poor in spirit, 
the simple and honest-hearted, and those who think little of them- 
selves, can say little for themselves, yet are diligent in waiting for 
ability to walk in that way which leads to life everlasting. We 
have, each of us, our foibles as men and women, and have each of 
us occasion to be industrious in watching unto prayer ; that the 
droppings and distillings of good may fall upon our branches ; 
strengthening and fructifying the holy plant, and destroying, by its 
sacred virtue and influence, or at least correcting, those frailties of 
the flesh, which, like messengers of Satan, are at times sent to 
buffet even those who are well-minded, and in a good degree par- 
takers of Divine regard and notice If we neglect a proper 

care of our bodies, disorders will hurt them ; if we omit to seek for 
spiritual nourishment, our souls will be in danger of perishing ; and 
if we exercise not our reason, to cultivate and improve our natural 

k 2 



132 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

understandings, to form ns and onr manners so as to be pleasing 
and profitable members of society, our spirits may, in our progress 
through life, contract dispositions, which, in course of time, may be 
inveterate and hard to be removed ; dispositions which will much 
disqualify us for fulfilling our several departments in life with pro- 
priety, and with ease and satisfaction to ourselves and others. I 
write freely to thee, my dear child, because I love thee ; because 
Divine Providence has favoured thee with a good understanding, both 
natural and spiritual ; and because thou art now going to leave thy 
father's house, and to be the companion of a worthy, a sensible, and 
a religious man : therefore I would not be wanting on my part to do 
every thing in my power, in every respect, for thy happy and com- 
fortable settlement ; and having done my duty to the best of my 
poor abilities, leave the rest to our Almighty Benefactor, whom I 
pray to bless you together, with every spiritual and temporal bless- 
ing, which, his unerring wisdom sees best to endue you with. 

R. S. to his Son. 

" Clonmel, 11 th of Ninth Month, 1780. 
" My dear Abraham, 

" Thy letter of 6th was and is indeed very grateful to me : it 
is such incense as (through the abundant mercy of our common 
gracious Benefactor) I was favoured with ability to offer to my 
father, and such as, through the continuation of the same mercy, I 
trust thou wilt know the pleasure of receiving from thy own offspring. 
It is remarkable how in the moral world, the crime of irreverence to 
parents is punished in its own kind, and the iniquity of the parents, 
in this line, visited on the children, from generation to generation. 
In all sins the crime begets its own punishment ; but in this, the 
crime begets the punishment in its own likeness. By the unmerited 
kindness of Divine Providence, I have experienced the contrary 
causes producing the contrary effects, in a similar manner. . . . . . 

" Thou wilt hear with pleasure from me a confirmation of thy 
sister Margaret's happiness here. When I say happiness, I do not 
mean it in the vague, superficial sense in which I frequently observe 
that term employed. I think her happy, because I think her good. 
And yet both these epithets are to be taken and used with a com- 
parative limitation, and reference to human condition. She does us 
much honour, however, in this place, by her conduct as a member of 
civil and religious society: she is nursing a beautiful babe, — she has 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 133 

reared two other fine children, — and she is a true helpmate in every 
sense, to a very worthy, honest, active man, who is an affectionate 
husband, a good father, and prosperous in business. I trust in the 
munificence of Heaven, which is graciously pleased to shower down 
its favours upon us who are unworthy of them, that we shall have 
the like grateful acknowledgments to make respecting our dear 
Debby : indeed, the sense of my obligations to our Almighty Bene- 
factor, on account of my clear children, often humbles my heart, 
and weighs me down, as fruit-bearing branches, over-loaded, bend 
towards the parent earth, which supplies the nourishment to the 

tree 

" Though Lydia and I have not corresponded this time, yet I 
trust we are as epistles written in each other's hearts. 

" I am, my dear Abraham's affectionate father, 

"E. S." 

From R. S. to J. B., 
On occasion of the death of James Gough. 

" Ballitore, 17 th of Tenth Month, 1780. 
" Dear Cousin, 
" The near affection, esteem, and respect, which I bore to thy 
late father-in-law, does not permit me to seem inattentive to his 
family, nor to be deficient in such visible token of friendship as is in 
my power to give, I therefore take this opportunity of expressing 
my joint-concern with yours for our common loss, — a loss severely 
felt throughout the borders of our religious Society in these nations, 
where the report has just spread, and is attended with peculiar 
regret. For as love begets love, that spirit of charity, benevolence, 
and brotherly-kindness, which so conspicuously influenced the dis- 
position of that good man, did not fail to produce reciprocal affection 
towards him in others. We lament the steady, upright friend, the 
pleasing, instructive companion, the lively experienced minister, the 
diligent faithful labourer, removed from among us. His family, 
who, more particularly, partook of the pleasure and profit arising 
from such good qualities and qualifications, must doubtless deeply 
feel the privation : but their sorrow will, (I trust,) be so tempered 
with resignation to the Divine Will, and so mingled with a comfortable 
hope of the happy end of the dear deceased, that there will ensue a 
quiet composure of mind, and sweet unity with his spirit safely 
centred in its holy rest. What remains for us is, so to pass the 
short, uncertain time of our sojourning here, as that we, at the close 



134 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

of all, may join the spirits of the blessed, never more to be separated 
from them. Human nature recoils with horror at the idea of ever- 
lasting exclusion from heaven and happiness, and in the regions of 
woe and misery. And yet if we would, on any reasonable grounds, 
expect to die the death of the righteous, and that our latter end 
should be like unto his, we must use all diligent endeavours to live 
the life of the righteous, that we may obtain at last, the glorious 
prize, and not most unhappily miss of so great salvation. Religious 
parents, devoted, as thy dear father-in-law was, to the service of 
Truth, and indefatigable in his labours for the good of others, not 
only purchase a blessed inheritance for themselves, but often for their 
successors ; their pains, their prayers, their secret offerings, rise in 
sweet memorial, and their children and families inherit the benefit 
thereof. Such, I hope, and I believe, will, (through Infinite Mercy,) 
be the happy experience of most of the nearest relatives of my dear 
friend, and some of the branches of this valuable stock, abiding the 
purging season, and submitting to the forming and turning of the 
Divine hand, will bear fruit, grateful to God and man. With these 
my spirit hath unity, and I earnestly desire their preservation and 
perseverance in that holy path, into which the feet of their minds 
have been turned ; that they in their day, may be useful and honour- 
able living members of the Church of Christ, and that there may be 
a succession of testimony-bearers to that Truth, which was first, and 
will stand last upon earth. But should any of the visited children of 
a visited family, the offspring of religious parents, who have watched 
over them with tender attention, and often admonished them for their 
good ; should any of these turn from the grace of God into wanton- 
ness, trample upon his Witness in their consciences, reject the calls 
and invitations of his Spirit, and set at nought their birth-right 
and education, surely dangerous is their situation ; they are running 
giddily, (as it were,) on the edge of a dreadful precipice, and dally- 
ing with their destruction. With all my heart I wish that the youth 
amongst us were properly sensible of the magnitude of the danger 
of slighting, and neglecting to cultivate the merciful visitations of 
heaven : that which in mercy was extended as a shepherd's crook, to 
draw them and help them along, will, if despised and let go, prove 
as an iron rod : the same sun, which, in the visible creation, cheers 
and invigorates the living, accelerates the putrefaction of the dead. 
' As they did not like/ says the apostle, ' to retain God in their 
knowledge/ which implies that they had once known him and been 
visited by him, ' God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do 
those things which are not convenient :' and then follows a catalogue, 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 135 

disgraceful, not only to Christianity, but to humanity itself. 0, may 
those children of my honoured friend, who from their local situation, 
are more exposed to evil than those hopeful plants of the same house, 
who have partaken more of parental care and nurture ; may those, 
though they may have wandered as into a far country, and fed on 
polluted and unsubstantial food, be favoured with a fresh visitation, 
and recollection where they are, and whence they have strayed, and 
be minded to return to their heavenly Father's house, and experience 
the arms of mercy stretched forth in great condescension to receive 
them, ere it be too late, and the door be finally shut ! 

" I had nothing of this, dear cousin, in my apprehension or view 
when I began, I only seemed to want to send some token to the 
family, expressive of my sympathy and friendship ; this has, without 
premeditation come from me, so I shall leave it. Present my wife 
and children's, with my own affectionate respects to thy mother-in- 
law. Our dear love attends thee, thy spouse, and her sisters. Our 
kind salutation to thy own father and his family. 

" I am, dear John, with sincere good wishes for thee, 
" Thy affectionate friend and kinsman, 

"B. S." 



CHAPTER V. 

LETTERS WRITTEN BETWEEN THE YEARS 1781 AND 1788, INCLUSIVE. 

E. S. to her Husband. 

"BaUitore, 1781. 

" Though it was agreeable to get a letter from thee, 

yet thou mayst be sure it would have been much more so to have 
had thyself, if it had been right : if not, it is better for thee to be 
employed in the business of going about doing good. This I hope 
is the case ; and if thou thinkest thou canst not do much more than 
assist and support the hands of our ancient Friend, who may be often 
cast down through infirmities of body, and distress of mind, it must 
be doing good. Distress of mind thy honest heart is well used to, 
on account of the unfaithfulness of the professors of the unchange- 
able Truth, which will remain so, though all men should forsake it. 
What remains to be done by the few who are concerned for the pro- 
motion thereof, is, to be watchful and humble, seeking to know 
what is required, and then honestly and simply performing it. This, 
I believe, is the way for the work of reformation to go forward, that 
is begun in many minds. The more we are reduced and brought 
into the littleness, (as thy father used to say,) and kept in it, the 
more helpful we shall be, as instruments in the hand of the 
Almighty, who can work by whom it pleaseth him to work. 

"E. S" 

R S. to his Daughter G . 



" BaUitore, 7th of First Month, 1781. 

"I suppose thy good man Samuel is by this time in 

Cork. I wish his honest mind may receive benefit there. Such 
breaking away, every now and then, from the cares and cumbers of 
this life, is very necessary and profitable to all who can compass it, 
and should be struggled and contended for by men of business. 
And not only at such seasons of general edification, do I wish you, 
dear children, to profit ; but recommend, what I doubt not is at 
times your practice, often to cultivate at home a renewing of the 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 137 

baptism of Truth in your own hearts : this tendering influence, this 
daily sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit, will be acceptable to 
Him who is the Author of every blessing, spiritual and temporal ; 
and will be found to animate, refresh, and invigorate for the dis- 
charge of every duty of every kind 

" We live in much comfort, amity, and satisfaction ; and I hope 
some of us are not insensible of the great and capital favour it is that 
our domestic tranquillity is lengthened out. This is a favour that I 
am jealous too many do not properly estimate ; and yet the com- 
plexion of the times is such, that it seems no way unlikely that the 
false rest, which many have settled in, will be disturbed ; and then 
the worth of peace, and tranquillity, and ease, and plenty, will be 
known by the want of them. Divine Providence, indeed, is all- 
sufficient to protect and deliver ; he is good and gracious, slow to 
anger, and long-suffering, else it would seem that these poor islands 
would be, as it were, swallowed up by such combined hosts of foes. 
I say he is merciful and all-sufficient, yet it is not amiss for us to 
commune together on the way, concerning these things ; and doubt- 
less is acceptable to our great Preserver, when in a right spirit we 
commemorate his benefits. 

"R. S" 

R. S. to his Daughter Mary. 

" Tottenham, Uth of Sixth Month, 1781. 



" is a sprightly, sensible woman ; but would 

suit my taste much better, if more of the diffident, the humble, the 
simple entered into her composition. And even true genius and 
literary accomplishments receive a softness and lustre from these 
qualities, highly ornamental. I hope I am not apt to force the 
subject of religion into conversation, (like poor Saul, who would 
have the prophet conjured up for him ;) but let advanced age, ex- 
perience, and parental affection say, religion, my dear child, is the 
safety, the happiness, the glory of human nature. By its sanctifying 
virtue, natural and improved abilities are kept in due subjection, 
regulated and directed to useful purposes : by this we have counsel 
and wisdom in dubious and intricate concerns ; by this we have re- 
source and consolation in distress ; and by this we have (the greatest 
of all favours) the evidence, the assurance, the earnest, of a happy 
immortality. Aspire after the knowledge of it, my dear child : with 
all thy acquirements, endeavour to acquire this. Remember Moses, 
who was exceeding fair, who had the education of a court to polish 



138 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

his manners, who was wise in all the learning of the Egyptians, and 
whose poetical talents are left on record in his song ; yet, had he 
given the preference to these qualities in his heart, he never would 
have been the leader of the Lord's people, through the Red Sea and 
the wilderness ; but he chose rather to suffer affliction with the 
people of God, than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. So, 
though no man knows where the visible part of him was buried,, yet 

his memory lives, and preaches loudly to us, to this day 

"US." 

R. S. to his Daughter Sarah. 

" Newport Pagnel, ISth of Sixth Month, 1781. 

" Where there is not the salt of religion, to me company 

is exceedingly insipid. If we be truly enamoured with the great 
object of our entire love, we shall be sick of the conversation of those 

who are so far from being tinctured in like manner That 

which deserves the name of Christian friendship, or fellowship, 
which is gendered and nourished by Divine love, cannot subsist 
between persons of such opposite spirits. But, my dear child, if 
through the mercy of the Almighty, (for there we are to depend, 
having not the least merit of our own,) if through his condescending 
mercy, we are happily preserved, having that eye open which sees 
a beauty in the most excellent Truth, the beauty of holiness ; if 
through the same mercy we suffer our affections to be separated from 
earthly and raised to aspire after heavenly enjoyments ; as we thus 
take firm root in the life of religion, we shall grow in the branches ; 
and in due season put out leaves, and bring forth fruit, which may 
convey healing virtue and food to others. So men and women become 
as c saviours in Mount Zion :' but consider, this is not an unstable, 
slippery footing, but Mount Zion which will never be moved. There 
is no steady, profitable progress made in a journey, if we be ever 
and anon halting, loitering, standing, forgetting what we are about, 
or, even if we make some advances forward, and yet suffer ourselves 
again to be drawn, as much, or perhaps more, in a retrograde direc- 
tion. Such a conduct is dangerous ; no comfortable composure 
abides with us on the way, and the night may overtake us, before 
we have completed the labour of the day. 

" R S." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 139 



B. S. to his Daughter G- 



" Ballitore, 4th of Seventh Month, 1781. 
" My dear Margaret, 
" Through the benignity of gracious Providence still extended to 
thy poor father, I can again salute thee from rny own home, that 
comfortable home, which he has allotted me, among the sweets of 
domestic life, and which I reached on the 2nd instant, under a 
tender sense of his mercies. Indeed, his kindness has been very 
great to me in this last excursion ; reproving, instructing, encou- 
raging, sustaining, and preserving ; giving me favour amongst his 
favourites, whereby I witnessed the renewal of former amities, in a 

manner such as I would wish, and the creation of new ones 

Joshua Pirn told me in Dublin that his mother continued better. 
I was greatly satisfied with her company. The feeling manner 
in which she spoke of the inward comfort she had experienced, I 
thought ministered life to my spirit, and I sat with pleasure under 
the distillation of her speech, as under the dropping of Gospel rain. 
Behold, my dear child, the Omnipotent Friend, whose support is 
sufficient for every trial, and who is near to help in the deepest 
affliction. Who would not, by all means, assiduously cultivate such 
patronage ? 

" B S." 

From R. S. to D. C. 

" Ballitore, 7th of Eighth Month, 1781. 
"My dear Cousin, 

"I congratulate the new married pair on their union. 

I hope there is cause to hope that He who made them has mercifully 
condescended to interfere in their connexion, that it is not without 
His Divine notice and approbation ; they are young, it is the spring- 
time of life with them, luxuriant shoots will be apt to grow ; may 
they suffer the pruning hand of Divine culture, the baptism which 
initiates, preserves, and keeps clean, and renders comely and accept- 
able in the sight of the Husband of souls. Acceptance with Him is 
all, and without it every enjoyment fails of satisfying the immortal 
spirit, every comfort of this life loses its best relish, and every 
trouble is aggravated by an additional sting ; whereas dwelling low, 
keeping in the moderation, and looking to our great Benefactor daily 
for his blessing, holding all as at his hand, and referring all to him, 
— his benefits are received with humble thankfulness, he filleth our 
hearts with food and gladness, the creatures are used to his honour, 



140 MEMOIRS OF RTCHARD SHACKLETON. 

and not abused to our hurt, and the Great Giver has the praise of all. 
Give my dear love to them both, as they are now one flesh, I hope 
they will be of one spirit, and that a right one. There does not 
seem to hang a doubt about me, but that they will do well every 
way. So be it. 

" Very affectionately thine, 
" R. S." 

R. S. to Elizabeth Pim. 

" Ballitore, 18th of Tenth Month, 1781. 
"My dear Friend, 

"I find by thine, Mary Brookes paid her visit, I make 

no doubt but each of you was disappointed ; she thought to view 
thee on one side, and probably it was the other side which was 
presented to her ; thou perhaps hoped that thy state would be 
ministered to by a deep, experienced minister, doubts solved, and 
advice imparted : but probably the burden of the word given to her 
might not have much in it for thee ; the priest and the Levite may 
be permitted to pass by ' on the other side/ and the stripped, and 
wounded, and half dead be little the better for them ; Moses and 
Elias disappeared, and c they saw no man any more, save Jesus only 
with themselves/ and the voice from the excellent glory was, ' This 
is my beloved Son, hear him.' Thus it pleaseth Infinite Wisdom to 
deal with those whom he wants to bring, and to settle more imme- 
diately and more steadily under his own teaching. He manifests to 
them their own great helplessness, that they may seek unto him for 
help ; he makes them sensible of their own foolishness, that they 
may apply unto him for instruction, and he shuts up instrumental 
means of supply, that he, the great inexhaustible Source of all 
good may be waited and depended alone upon. 

" Edith Lovell from Bristol, was at our Quarterly Meeting at 
Edenderry, she did not appear in the public meetings of worship, her 
concern seems mostly to the families within the precincts of the 
Meeting of Dublin, to which meeting her certificate is principally 
addressed, and I believe she does not expect to proceed much farther 
in the nation ; she is a sweet minister, not large in her gift. 

" R, S." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 141 

R. S. to his Son. 

Dublin, 1st of Eleventh Month, 1781. 

"Dear Abraham, 

" We got well and in good time hither. I hope this will find you 
also in good plight. Storms and cross winds will sometimes dis- 
compose us on this sea ; and there is also a danger from the becalmed, 
indifferent state of mind. To have One at the helm, that can not 
only steer the vessel safe, but command the winds and waves, is a 
great acquisition. We should, with the eye of prudence, keep a 
sharp look-out, that no hidden rocks or shelves be in the way ; but 
our dependence must be on the Pilot, and to Him we must submit the 
guidance, or we shall not be safe. For my part, I have been much 
tossed and agitated of late, on various accounts. The hemisphere 
looks cloudy, and neither sun, moon, nor stars appear. But I strive 
to get c right onward/ You, my beloved children, are a great comfort 
to me ; and, as you do well, you will contribute much to my happi- 
ness. Your task allotted in life is arduous and complex ; you will 
very much want, (and I hope you are truly sensible that you want,) 
Divine Wisdom for your guide, Divine Providence for your pro- 
tector, and Divine Power to mediate for you. From a sense of our 
own insufficiency arises a cry for help, and in proportion to our sen- 
sibility and distress, that cry penetrates the holy ear with effectual 

importunity The full, the self-sufficient, as they ask not, 

so they receive not ; as they do not feel themselves poor, they neither 
labour nor beg. The Lord's poor are fed at his gate, but the rich 
and the full are sent empty away. 

" I very freely and readily accept of our Lydia's apology for not 
writing to me : I know the source of her backwardness, and it is 
among the many things which rivet my affection to her. She is her- 
self an epistle written in my heart, which I often read with delight. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to James Abell. 

" My dear James, 

However weak, and light, and fallible we may be, yet 



I think it is a favour that we seem to be preserved from prejudice 
and partiality, and that love and tenderness prevail as becomes 
brethren. My poor spirit was much low down in the deeps in the 
meetings of worship, and I think our select meetings were not 
barren of edification, but to me, our meetings of discipline felt flat. 



142 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

I want a current of life to bear our discipline along, then we 
should feel as joints and sinews to one another, then we should be 
united as fellow-labourers, a bundle of love, and these seasons would 
be seasons of Divine refreshment and renewal of strength. But we 
are too outward, too superficial in the general ; there is not a keep- 
ing enough in these meetings to an inward attention, and some (it 
is to be feared) handle some part of the discipline with unwashen 
hands. 

" The world seems at times a great vacuum. Ye that keep a 
spiritual diary, when ye turn back the leaves of your lives, does not 
the state of the account frighten you ? Perhaps that practice is an 
incentive to care and diligence : as a man who keeps an account of 
his daily expenses is apt thereby to learn to practice frugality and 
economy. 



R S." 



R. S. to his Son~in-Law G- 



"Ballitore, ISth of Twelfth Month, 1781. 

"I would not be wanting to myself and family in 

taking necessary steps for the recovery of my money, according to 
the best of my understanding, and the advice of my judicious friends ; 
but I find that suffering my mind to be too much occupied in con- 
templation about these matters, hurts and unfits it for better things. 
I acknowledge I am not wise in my generation about them, I am 
sensible of it, — as also that it is a defect, and not any merit in 
me ; therefore I apply, when I can, to Him who has all power in 
heaven and on earth, and without whose permission such events do 
not happen, that He will be pleased to mediate in my affairs, and that 
all things (what the world calls good and evil) may work together for 
the essential, substantial good of me and mine. In the active season 
of life, diligence in business, within the limitation of Truth, is not 
only allowable, but has the sanction of apostolic precept. ' Provide 
things honest, (i. e. decent) in the sight of all men/ And, ' if any 
man provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own 
house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel/ I 
often look back with a pleasing recollection to the industrious part 
of my life, in which I in some measure, ' exercised myself to have a 
conscience void of offence towards God and towards men/ My care 
and industry were blessed with competence ; and if this now, in the 
decline of life, be diminished, I hope that, through the same bless- 
ing, a competence will still remain. 

" R, S." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 143 



From R. S. to James Abell. 

"Ballitore, 18th of Twelfth Month, 1781. 
" My dear James, 
" I received thy letter in course, and am well pleased that thou 
art yoked in service. I know it is humiliating to be the object of 
scorn and censure, but the disciple is not to be above his Master, nor 
the servant above his Lord. I believe it is right that this thing 
should befall thee that thou might become ' more vile and base in 
thy own sight.' With all thy low times, and thy complaining 
language, and the peculiarities of thy trials and provings, thou art a 
favoured man, and if it be not thy own fault, I believe thou wilt be 
more and more so. Watch and be sober. Do not be carried away 
out of thy own sphere, by the vortex of another. Do not allow thy- 
self liberty according to the liberty of another. Keep to thy own 
exercise, wear thy own concern till the right time for casting it off. 
If thou hast a little burden of a word to drop in the simplicity, look 
not at the bulk of it, but at its weight ; drop it where thou thinks 
it best so to do, and then bound any reflections of thy own about it. 
If thou hast done well, thou wilt be accepted and feel the accept- 
ance ; if otherwise, the rod and reproof in thy own bosom will give 
wisdom against another time, and thou wilt not be as a child left to 
himself, which bringeth his mother (the church) to shame. The 
account of your progress is very agreeable to us ; I doubt not but 
Edith will fare much the better for having none but striplings along 
with her. The supply of lesser streams being cut off, will be likely 
to attract her with stronger necessity to the Spring, and to fix her 
dwelling beside it. There has been too much of a crying out, help, 
help, among the labourers, one to another, instead of waiting in a 
sense of their own helplessness for the help of the Lord Almighty ; 
and he who is jealous of his own honour, and sees the secret move- 
ments of the heart, has not blest in so full a manner, nor added so 
great a degree of his own strength, as would have been the case, if 
the servant had entirely looked and turned to him alone. 

"K. S." 



From the Same to the Same. 

" Ballitore, Twelfth Month, 1781. 
" My dear Friend, 

"I like that young men should avow their principles, 

and range themselves on the right side. I like that they should 



144 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

engage in such acts as will show they are not in alliance with the 
enemies of God's true Israel. There must and will be enmity be- 
tween the two seeds. 

" My spirit has waded in the deeps many a time in travail for the 
visited youth, that not one grain of the heavenly seed might be lost, 
nor unfruitful, and now my cry is that they may ' go forward/ 
They have, many of them, been tied up from the further sallies of 
their own wild nature ; they have known the discipline of the cross, 
and now the Master hath need of them, he calls for their service in 
the church. Indeed they can never serve a better master. His 
service dignifies the meanest talents ; and the brightest, if they tend 
not to promote it, are but meanly employed. This world, its bustle, 
its pursuits, and its highest glory, will soon be over, to every one 
that is at present in it. Then the answer of ' Well done ! good 
and faithful servant/ will be a more joyful sound, a more sub- 
stantial reward, than all the favour and friendship, false praise and 

honour, which this life can bestow 

" R. S." 

[James Abell was R. S/s pupil, and one of his dearest friends. 
He was beloved and respected as a valuable member of religious and 
civil society, and after a life spent in preparation for a better state of 
being, he was suddenly removed by death, the 15th of Seventh 
Month, 1818.] 

E. S. to her Daughter G . 



"Ballitore, 18^ of First Month, 1782. 
" My dear Margaret, 

" Thy favouring me with the first letter after thy confinement, 
I take as a mark of great kindness and affection, and I fear I shall 
make thee but a poor return for it ; for really this dismal news, (the 
shipwreck of Edith Lovell and Joseph Sparrow,) has affected me so 
much, that it is seldom out of my thoughts while awake. Remember, 
we cannot pretend to judge for what cause it was permitted. Edith 
was a near and dear friend, in the prime of life for public service,, a 
humble, devoted servant, the mother of a number of small children, 
whom she appeared to be qualified to educate in the way they should 
go. Our dear Joseph, reared with care, and arrived at man's estate, 
a dutiful and helpful son, an affectionate brother, a kind, sincere 
friend, an example of sobriety and virtue, and likely to be of ex- 
tensive service in the Society. How can we then but admire why 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 145 

such should come to an untimely end ? Yet, as we are short-sighted, 
and cannot penetrate into futurity, it may be ordered so in unerring 
wisdom, that they should be taken from the troubles and dangerous 
temptations, we who remain are subject to while here. May their 
near friends and connexions be supported under so great a trial. 
My mind has been much affected with sympathy for his distressed 
mother, and I have feared it might cost her, her life ; as he was not 
only her dear, affectionate son, but also, I suppose, her friend and 
counsellor. I wish much for her, that she may endeavour to keep 
her mind as still as possible, with her eye to Him who knows best 
what to appoint for us in tender mercy, to the purifying our spirits, 
in order that they may be fit to join the number of those who live 
to praise and glorify His great name, in a habitation eternal in the 
heavens. 

" I observe thy wise and prudent remarks concerning the educa- 
tion of thy dear little ones, thy charge being now increased. I think 
what thou mentionedst is just, that to be led and governed ourselves 
by best wisdom, can alone qualify us to train up our children in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord ; and we had need keep close 
to this assistance, as we are frail, and our natural part ready to 

interfere 

"E. S." 

R S. to John Thorpe. 

« Ballitore, 24th of Second Month, 1782. 

" I have some faint remembrance that, when I had the pleasure 
of thy company, we conversed a little about meetings for discipline. 
The church should edify itself in love, and when the most active 
and zealous members of a meeting are collected together, there is 
seasonable opportunity for every one to exercise their several gifts to 
edification, and by thus giving they may know an increase. The 
discipline is a branch from the same stock as the ministry, and by 
long experience has been found to be exceedingly useful in the con- 
servation of our religious Society. I need not enumerate to thee its 
many advantages. The members of the church militant are still 
coming on and going off the stage of action : there must be a suc- 
cession of clean hands to handle the discipline, and there must be 
some time in learning, that they may have skill in the work ; so 
that those who are already qualified should be present, ready, and 
apt to teach. The conferences also in Monthly Meetings, among 
ministers and elders, should (according to my best feeling) be 



146 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

diligently kept up : these should be holy convocations, solemn 
meetings. Those of this class, casting down their crowns before 
Him, ' who is the head of all principality and power/ may, under 
His blessed influence, as iron sharpens iron, and diamond cuts 
diamond, be made instrumental of help to one another, and con- 
sequently of help to the Monthly Meeting at large/' 

R. S. to Mary Watson. 

" Ballitore, 24th of Second Month, 1782. 
" Indeed, my dear friend, I deem myself very unworthy of thy so 
great regard and attention, it is too much ; but a beneficent Creator 
has dealt bountifully with me in many respects, and particularly iD 
inclining the minds of many of his favourites towards me. The 
consideration operates upon me, I own, as I would wish, it humbles 
me, and that which humbles, delights me ; I greatly rejoice in 
being brought low, I love the littleness, it is a safe state ; I wish 
it also for my beloved friends, that what they are, they may be by 
the grace of God : a very little pure gold is preferable to a great 
deal of baser metal. My pen, like my tongue, is apt to run when 
conversing with thee. I often, if not always, feel an uncommon 
openness of communication with thee, I bear about me a longing 
desire to have thee to be something, I know not what, but that 
which the Lord Almighty would have thee to be. And surely he 
would have thee to be his humble devoted servant, not as a cake 
partially baked, or a vessel not perfected on the wheel, but 'perfect 
and entire, wanting nothing/ And in order to this, that his gracious 
purposes may be effectually answered, many strippings of self, many 
humbling baptisms must be experienced : the will and the wisdom of 
the creature must be laid low, that that which is of God may be 
exalted, that holy Seed of life, which ' shall possess the gate of his 
enemies/ and in which alone shall all the nations (sects and societies) 

of the earth, as well as all the families of men be blessed 

" R. S." 

From R. S. to Edmund Burke. 

" Ballitore, 2nd of Fifth Month, 1782. 
" My dear Friend, 

" The newspapers mention thy being gone to the con- 
tinent to negociate a peace ; I was delighted with the thought of thy 
being employed in that god-like work, the most noble and glorious 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 147 

occupation which can possibly fall to the lot of man. The value 
of peace is best estimated by contrasting it with the effects of 
war, inhuman, irrational, brutal, cruel, destructive war ; and yet, 
I believe this dreadful evil, with all its concomitant horrors, often 
depends on the capricious will of a few vain and selfish indi- 
viduals. I am persuaded, from long and intimate knowledge of 
thy heart, that it would be its principal joy that thou should be 
instrumental to procure this capital blessing of peace for mankind^ 
and Edmund Burke would rejoice that there should be no occasion 
for a standing army in the British Empire, though the pay-master* 
of the forces, having no forces to pay, should lose his office. how 

beautiful are the arts of Peace ! 

" I am, my dear Edmund, 

" Sincerely and affectionately thine, 

" R S." 

R. S. to his Daughter G-- , 



" Ballitore, 11th of Eighth Month, 1782. 

" The harvest of the world and the harvest of the church, con- 
spire to occupy our attention. For my part, I think I am of little 
use in either department ; but in the latter, I dare not (nor am I 
willing) to withhold any little assistance which I am capable of 
giving. In allusion to such harvest- work, or works of agriculture, 
our Saviour saith, ' No man having put his hand to the plough, and 
looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God/ I wish, for myself, and 
those connected with me, to seek first this kingdom. The refuse of 
our time and our talents will not be accepted. Whole burnt sacri- 
fices, and victims without blemish, are the acceptable offerings : the 
halt, and the lame, and that which died of itself will not do. 

" 13th. — Thy letter was most acceptable : it comforted and 
cheered us, to find thee so easy, happy, and tranquil. I was thank- 
ful for it, and enabled to make a grateful offering on thy account. 
Surely, great are my obligations to Divine Providence, for many 
favours ; but in an especial manner for such a wife and such chil- 
dren as I am blest with. The connexions also of my children having 
been formed (I trust) under heavenly direction, are a source of pleas- 
ing reflection and satisfaction to me. I wish you all to trust in the 
Divine disposal, and not lean (not to be biassed by the will of the 
creature, or its plausible, fallacious prospects) to your own under- 
standing. He that sitteth in heaven ' consults on the sum of 

* Edmund Burke, a little before this time had been appointed Paymaster 
to the forces. 

L 2 



148 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

things/ — takes the whole, past, present, and future, into one view ; 
He is therefore the best and only sure Counsellor. 

" 17th of No doubt thou wast pleased with the oppor- 
tunity of being personally acquainted with thy new sister, Sarah 
Robert Grubb. I hope the alliance between you will get the best, 
the purest, the strongest cement. But if we would build a firm wall, 
we must not hurry it up too fast : we must go on gradually, and allow 
the cement time to dry. It is good to let Truth create our friend- 
ships, guide us to the objects, order us as to the growth, and limit 
us as to the degree. Truth should be the alpha and omega of these 
intimacies, or they will not be permanent. Another thing. As 
best wisdom dwells with prudence, however near your union may be 
with one another, it is not well to let it be too publicly manifest : it 
may raise jealousy in others, cause invidious reflections, and be pro- 
ductive of many inconveniences. Taking these little hints along 
with you, may you love one another most cordially, say I, and may 
the Divine blessing sanctify your love ! 

" R. S." 

R. S. to his Son. 

" Clonmel, 8th of Tenth Month, 1782. 

" Clouds filled with gospel rain, wafted along by the 

Divine Spirit, compressed by the Almighty hand, and discharging 
themselves on the people, is the perfection of instrumental help. 
Yet to be looking too earnestly at these clouds, and watching which 
way the wind (the Spirit) is driving them, is not the way for us to 
profit. ' He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that 
regardeth the clouds shall not reap/ .... We have abundant cause 
to rely on that bountiful and gracious Hand, and to trust in that 
Source of supply that has never yet failed. Seek first the kingdom, 
was the precept of the Great Master -.—first, in the early part of 
life -.—first, as the object of greatest value -.—first, as requiring the 
most diligent attention and pursuit. This being, through heavenly 
help, put in practice, there is no doubt but other less essential, yet 
necessary things will be added. Time is short and fleeting. A 
little will suffice for our quick passage. One thing (as our Lord 
told Mary) is needful, absolutely needful : may we happily choose, 
and be preserved to persevere in our predilection for that good part, 
which is unmixedly good, which makes truly rich, and is free from 
the appendages of worldly sorrow. 

" There is an infinite variety in the spiritual, as in the temporal 
system ; and in this variety is much of the beauty of the inward as 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 149 

well as outward creation. Numberless are the gifts and graces 
which are in the heavenly storehouse, all good and all perfect ; and 
these would doubtless be liberally dispersed to the members of the 
visible church of Christ, were the ground of their hearts prepared 
and made ready for the reception of them : but an enemy has so far 
prevailed, that these gifts are withheld, and many posts and stations 
in the house of God are vacant, to the tarnishing of the splendour, 
and deranging the comely and excellent order of the house. And 
too frequently, when gifts have been bestowed, they become sullied 
by a creaturely mixture ; something, which though plausible and 
subtle, is born of the flesh, and profiteth nothing in religion. There 
is often an affectation and imitation of the gift or manner of others. 
This is a great error in judgment ; for every body would certainly 
shine most by exercising his own gift, and most effectually con- 
tribute to general service ; but to despise one's own and covet 
another's, is (like the dog and the shadow in the fable) the way to 
lose the substance. The variety of gifts, like the variety of chords in 
David's harp, constitutes the harmony, more sublime and beautiful 
than a dull monotony. 

" R. S." 

E. S. to Sarah Robert Gtrubb. 

"Ballitore, 24th of Twelfth Month, 1782, 
" My dear Cousin, 

" Having on the 22nd instant received the two enclosed letters to 
forward, it has been a stimulus to me to rise early this morning, to 
accompany them, like a guide to travelling English friends. I re- 
membered as I lay in bed, that I was in debt for a long, instructive, 
affectionate, obliging epistle of thine, to which I have no sort of ex- 
pectation of making any thing like an adequate return ; neither have 
I, that I know of, such emulation about me. Honest friends, in 
entertaining one another, should not vie in elegance and superfluity, 
but simply and cordially bring out the best they happen to have in 
the house, for their guests ; and though the fare may seem mean, 
yet if it be sound and savoury, and served up by clean hands, there 
is no reason to be ashamed of it. It is the affecting to appear 
something above our abilities that renders us contemptible, and 
which, if persisted in, will be in danger of making us bankrupts. 
But why these strictures ? They have no pointed meaning, my dear 
cousin : they are general observations. I hope and believe we are 
both pretty clear of affectation, and superfluity, and ostentation, 
though unintentionally I fell on this subject. Love and unity, I 



150 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

trust, subsist between us ; and if admonition was necessary to be 
imparted, I also trust we should receive it from each other, without 

having recourse to any oblique insinuations They call 

our dwelling the Retreat ; it is, indeed, so in some respects ; but 
annoyances of one sort or other will break in. Flies are most trou- 
blesome in the shade. To keep low and humble, to step cautiously 
and feelingly, to watch diligently over the movements in our own 
minds, to wait for that baptizing virtue which makes and preserves 
sweet and clean, to be as good servants, ready for every occasional 
duty which may be unexpectedly required : this is the state we 
desire to be found in, and wish it was more our experience. But 
we are poor, and desire the prayers, and sympathy of our dear 

friends, to whom we are united in the fellowship of suffering 

Accept of all our dear love, which indeed thou art in full possession 
of. Whenever thou findest leisure and freedom to favour me with 
a line, be sure it will be very acceptable to me. If thou hast been 
at the province meeting of Cork, send me the history of it. Julius 
Ccesar fought the battles and recorded the narrative of them, with 
the same hand. 

"I am, my dear cousin, thine very affectionately, 

" K S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Ballitore, 10th of First Month, 1783. 
"I am obliged to my dear cousin for her kind confidential letter. 
Every communication I have with thee, I think, rivets thee more 
closely to me. I find thy excursion to Cork has been productive of 
some uneasiness to thee. What then ? It may have been, notwith- 
standing, a profitable journey. If thy foot slipped, and the inward 
monitor was near to reprove, and thou hast been healed by his 
stripes, there bound thy reflections : the past is irrecoverable ; kiss 
the rod in all humility, and see and be a good child next time. I 
say again, thy welfare is near my heart, and my desire is, that 
neither heights, nor depths, things present, nor yet to come, may be 
able to separate thee (who art separated to the Gospel) from the love 
of God, and an entire, unreserved dedication of all thy faculties, in 
nothingness of self, to the cause of Christ. Our province meeting, 
lately held at Castledermot, was to me satisfactory. As to the 
preaching, it was according to the complexion of the day, a time of 
rebuke ; but, for my own part, I rejoiced in having my own spirit 
rinsed and cleansed by the baptizing power of Truth. Several of the 
servants ministered to us, all well, for aught I know ; but Mary 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 151 

Ridgway, that piece of beaten gold, beaten by the hammer of afflic- 
tion, was peculiarly honoured among her brethren 

" I very much accord with thee in sentiment, on perusing the 
weighty contents of thy last. I rejoice in thy diffidence, and in thy 
sense of the precariousness of thy standing. I observe thy wise 
distinction between the strength which is inherent in the constrain- 
ing mission, and the occasional capacity which may now and then 
be witnessed, in the freedom of a visit to one's kindred. I think, 
till this time, when I am writing, I never understood the force of 
that passage relating to Gideon : ' Go in this thy might, and thou 
shalt save Israel/ And this might was : * Have not I sent thee V 
Be cheered, my dear friend, and look upward : I make no doubt but 
heavenly help and Divine favour are near thee. Read and apply 
the three first verses in the 6th chapter of Hosea. Thou broughtest 
a part of them to my remembrance. Thou hast not only my love, 
but the love of all my house. Remember us dearly to thy husband ; 
to thy worthy brother and sister, where you at present quarter : and 
be assured I am, in sympathy, 

" Thy truly affectionate friend and kinsman, 

"R. S." 

R. S. to his Son. 

Dublin, 22nd of Second Month, 1783. 
" It was a good day to thee, when thou wast solemnly 



and publicly united to our beloved Lydia. I am a witness that the 
power of an endless life presided on that day. May it be your 
frequent employment to wait for the renewing of that power to your 
spirits. Divine love is the great bond of our religious Society, which 
pervades every living member of the body, and joins altogether in 
an holy union. I doubt not but you experience this at times, to 
cement you to one another, and to all the living. 

" I wish you health and prosperity, and every blessing ; but if 
He who has you, I trust, under His care and keeping, sees meet to 
chasten with the stripes of affliction, may you be so instructed by the 
dispensations allotted, that you may be enabled each to say : ' Not 
my will, but thine be done !' My heart is often engaged for you, 
with tender solicitude. Your track of life is an arduous path ; thick 
sown with a variety of trials, probations, and perplexities, and diffi- 
culties : may Solomon's wise choice be yours, and may you happily 
obtain substantial wisdom to direct, and substantial help and com ; 
fort to confirm your steps, and strengthen you in your way. 

" R. S. v 



152 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

R S. to his Daughter Mary. 

Concerning his danger on ship-board, coming from England with 
John Pemberton and William Mathews. 

" Athy, 2Zrd of Eighth Month, 1783. 
"I had just lain down for the night, when an ever- 
lasting night threatened the visible part of me. The ship struck 
against a bank, which they called the Kish, near the place where 
the Indiaman, they said, struck some months ago, when near one 
thousand, I heard, perished. She struck a second and a third time : 
it was awful ! I thought of poor Edith Lovel and Joseph Sparrow, 
and knew not but their fate would have been ours. For a few 
minutes I was held in anxious suspense, but preserved from abject 
fear : in a few minutes she floated again, and we got off. This was 
a preservation to be commemorated with humble gratitude ! " 

From R. S. to Anna Taverner. 

" Ballitore, 13th of Eleventh Month, 1783. 
" My dear Friend, 
" I acknowledge to have received two acceptable letters from thee, 
to which I have not before replied. Affectionate friendship was not 
wanting, but a variety of engagements prevented my writing sooner. 
I now dearly salute thee, and inform thee that thy acquaintances 
here are generally well, and retain their sincere love and esteem for 
their beloved A. T. Thou hast many kind and cordial friends. 
So that if in some few circumstances thou should have cause of 
uneasiness, there are many others which are agreeable ; and this 
is not the place where unmixed happiness and uninterrupted tran- 
quillity are to be expected. We are seen, the structure of our 
inward man, and all its parts are perfectly known. The great 
Author of our being, best knows what will be most conducive to 
our well-being, with what kind of alloy, and in what proportion, to 
temper the cup of life for each of us. We are poor, frail creatures, 
and unless the gracious hand of Providence protected, circumscribed 
and limited, as well as supported, we should be miserable indeed. 
But his fatherly care is extended, and his watchful eye prevents and 
provides for the wants of his visited children, who humbly and 
steadily look and lean towards him, and depend upon him. Canst 
not thou, my dear friend, say, ' Hitherto he has helped me.' Be 
encouraged, therefore, still to trust and confide in that sure help, 
nothing doubting : feel daily and hourly after inward support, that 
thou may be endued with strength and wisdom of the best kind, to 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 153 

do and to suffer according to the Divine will, every present day. 
Do not keep thyself too much confined sitting in one place, nor let thy 
thoughts be too much, and too long, un profitably poring on any one 
thing ; but use necessary exercise of body : and do not dwell contem- 
plating the gloomy, but turn thy attention to the brighter side of 
things. It is not the will of our Great Master that his disciples 
should be cast down below measure ; his gracious language is, ' Why 
are ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts V And 
again, ' Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe 
also in me/ Since I saw thee, I saw several of thy friends and 
relations in England, who inquired kindly after thee. I returned 
from thence with John Pemberton and William Matthews. We 
sailed from Liverpool, seemed to be in imminent danger of our lives 
on the voyage, by the ship striking several times on a bank, but we 
providentially escaped. Indeed, on our return home the other day 
from Dublin, we had to commemorate the merciful deliverance of 
good Providence, my wife, M. and S. having been very nearly over- 
turned in a deep ditch by the road-side. So that numberless are the 
favours which we are daily and hourly receiving of His bountiful 
hand. Let us then, my dear A., lift up our heads and hearts unto 
Him ; let us wait steadily and diligently upon Him, and not distrust 
His merciful care and preservation which is ever over those who fear 

Him, and hope in Him 

" I am, my dear A., thy affectionate friend, 

"US." 

R. S. to Louisa Conran. 

" Ballitore, 2nd of Twelfth Month, 1783. 

" My dear Friend, 

" Although thy expected letter has not yet arrived, although thou 
art now, as it were, out of my province, although thou art now a 
married woman, and mayst learn of thy husband at borne, yet I am 
not willing to forego the satisfaction of communing with thee ; and 
this, I believe, thy worthy helpmate will approve. I have been 
thinking of thy situation there, and wish thee to answer effectually 
the purposes of thy allotment in that place. For this end, two 
things seem to me especially necessary for thee, humility and wisdom 
of the right sort. Thou hast been a singular kind of person from 
thy childhood ; thou hast been a marked, conspicuous person, since 
thy adult age. Such as thou, the visited of the Lord, who undergo 
the operations of his chastising, refining, purging, preparing, hand, 



154 MEMOIES OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

are subjects of rejoicing to the wise in heart, and objects of their 
tender, solicitous care ; but the unregenerate, the raw, the irre- 
ligious, and those who are as but half-baked cakes, look upon such, 
as with a vulture's eye ; they watch for their halting. Now, the 
great preservative against the arrows of the ungodly, is true humility. 
When we lie prostrate, as with our mouths in the dust, these arrows 
are disappointed, they fly over us and do not hurt us. The archers 
themselves grow weary, if not ashamed of their pursuit. ' After 
whom is the king of Israel come out ? After whom dost thou pur- 
sue ? After a dead dog, after a flea/ This was the spirit which 
waxed stronger and stronger, and which in fulness of time obtained 
dominion, and ruled among the chosen people. Then being seated 
on the throne, (the place assigned,) to judge the tribes, appears the 
great necessity for wisdom, and from this sense, and the urgency of 
the case, arises a strong cry, which pervades the holy ear of Him, 
who sees all our wants and weaknesses, and what is essentially re- 
quisite for us, in order to our filling up our stations acceptably in 
His sight. 

Little matters of discipline, and forms of conducting it, are 
already in the hands of a few women Friends in your province. 
Perhaps thou may see weakness attending, and be acquainted with 
some better mode ; yet that wisdom which dwells with prudence, 
may suggest to thee, that it is better to let things go on for a while 
in the old manner, provided the Cause does not suffer. But if this 
should be in danger, if the precious testimony should be likely to 
fall, then indeed, in meekness of wisdom, it is proper to stand forth 
in its defence. But let us ever take care that, in such conflicts, 
our own spirits be in subjection to the Spirit of Truth, and that we 
manifest that it is not ourselves nor our own honour we are seeking, 
but Christ. By keeping low and humble, and adhering to Wisdom's 
dictates, there is not a doubt but that in due time thy way will be 
cleared before thee. ' Commit thy way unto the Lord : trust also 
in him, and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy 
righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day/ . . . 
" We all here join in true affection to you both, farewell. 

E. S. to John Conran. 

" I was favoured with thine in course, and did by no means forget 
that it called for a reply ; but what could I say, or whence could I 
help thee ? I am but a beggar on the dunghill myself, possessing a 
poverty which I am not ashamed (but yet which is not lawful for 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 155 

me) to confess ; for as it is not decent to be vaunting of our riches 
to the poor, so it seems useless to complain of our poverty to them. 
Besides, for me to attempt to speak comfortably to thee, because thou 
wert sorrowful when thou wrote, would be foolish, seeing that the 
vicissitudes of the religious barometer are frequent, there are many 
weathers in one of this sort of days, weeping may endure for a night, 
but joy cometh in the morning. There might be much alteration 
in the state of thy mind between the time of thy writing to me and 
of receiving an answer from me. So, (and this I believe is hardly 
necessary to say to thee,) it is apparent that if we would grow in 
religion, we must not place our dependence on men, nor have our 
expectation from them ; we must no more lean to the understanding 
of others than our own, but we must look and lean to the Lord 
alone, whose Spirit in our hearts is our law, our guide, our support, 
our wisdom, and our consolation. And to this I refer and commend 
us both. 

" I am, dear John, thy affectionate friend, 

" R S." 

" Irksome as the state of poverty appears, it is yet preferable to 
a hardened state, should we, like them of old time, who, though 
fed from heaven with angels' food, yet were not estranged from their 
lusts, even while the meal was in their mouths. If we suffer per- 
secution and buffettings of spirit, then dealeth He with us as with 
sons whom the father loveth and chasteneth, — the necessity of a 
stripped state, and the safety of it no doubt made the apostle glory 
in a sense of his infirmities."" 

R. S. to Lucy Conrad. 

" Thou hast been often in my mind with much nearness of best 
affection, to wit, in that love which is pure and unmixed, — that love 
which far surpasseth the understanding and comprehension of the 
carnal minded, — that love which is the true badge of discipleship, 
and evidence of having passed from death unto life ; nor have my 
desires for thy preservation, growth, enlargement, and establishment 
in the blessed everlasting Truth, been few, but many and strong ; 
and yet after all I feel a desire to recommend thee that more excellent 
than all outward helpers, by so much as the heavens are higher than 
the earth. This thou art acquainted with, thou hast already tasted of 
the good Word of Life, the gracious morning of God's salvation hath 
dawned upon thy soul ; oh ! be faithful to its discoveries, mind its 



156 MEMOIRS OF EICHAED SHACKLETON. 

gentle whispers, attend unto its holy leadings, it will infallibly lead 
into all truth, and establish thy humble stepping along in the right 
line of duty ; thou knowest it teacheth as never man taught. 

" Thou seemest to lament the slow progress thou hast made in the 
good warfare ; perhaps thou sometimes castest thy eye towards some 
whom thou thinkest set out as late as thou didst, and who appear to 
have made much more progress ; or at others whose continuance in the 
potter's house has been short compared to thine, and whose turnings 
and overturnings have been few in comparison with those allotted 
to thee. This I allow may have been the case, yet be not thou dis- 
couraged at these things, but call to remembrance that thou art in 
the hand of a faithful Creator, who sees the way thou takest, and 
when He has sufficiently tried thee, will bring thee forth as gold. 
Look not at such gourds as come up in a night, notwithstanding 
some of the Lord's people should be as weak as to rejoice under their 
shadow ; but, shall I say it ? yea, I will, because I feel it, look to 
the great work unto which thou art called, and for which thou hast 
been preparing ; nor be solicitous what the message may be, perad- 
venture the simplicity of the matter in commission might be one 
cause, why the foolish prophet above alluded to, did seek to flee 
from the presence of his great Master, and baulk his testimony, 
' Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown !' How foolish a 
testimony, (might he say,) will this be ! how can I submit to be 
the bearer of such a simple matter as this will appear ! shall I risk 
my reputation as a wise man, and perhaps in the end appear a fool, 
a liar ? But we find that all his attempts proved vain, amongst 
which his going down to the side of the ship and there falling asleep, 
appears to be one ; and should my friend think that entering into 
a certain state will prove a safe retreat, I verily believe she will be 
mistaken. I am now ready to say what have I done ? I have shot 
the arrow, it is gone — let it go, I did not make it, it was brought 
to hand unsought for by me : I write simply, altogether unpremedi- 
tated. Thou seemest to charge me against speaking by permission 
only upon a matter that my pen has already been led unwittingly 
into, before the time intended when I sat down, as I rather pro- 
posed, to take thy letter in due order ; but the wind bloweth where 
it listeth, and although we hear the sound thereof, yet we cannot 
describe clearly the ways thereof. I shall now tell thee that nothing 
relative to outward helpers in the vineyard is so grateful to mine 
ears, as that of the gospel preached in its own simplicity and purity, 
whether it may be through male or female, great or small ; so on 
the contrary, nothing gives me more pain, or brings so thick a cloud 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 157 

of distress over my mind as a busy, meddling, unsent, unbaptized 
ministry. These, indeed, darken counsel by words without know- 
ledge, — are spots in our feasts of charity, — clouds without water, 
carried about by winds of their own raising, and for whom blackness 
and darkness is in store ! Judge then from these my settled senti- 
ments, if I wish thee to run before thou art sent ? God forbid. 
Yet hear a word of further exhortation, from one who loves thee 
dearly, — beware of disobedience, when the fulness of time comes, 
be not what I was, faithless, but be thou believing. I wish thee 
not to go forth in the uncertainty, but wrap thy head in the glorious 
mantle of Truth, until the uncertain dispensations of wind, fire, and 
earthquake, pass by, and until the still small voice of holy certainty 
reach the ear of thy soul ; for I know this, that as our bodies have 
organs by which we see and hear, so to the crucified and quickened 
believers similar spiritual sensations are given, and by the proper 
exercise of them, they can clearly distinguish between object and 
object, sound and sound. This we find was the case with that great 
apostle Paul, as well as the great prophet Elijah, ' When/ says he, 
' God, who separated me from my mother's womb, called me by his 
grace to reveal his Son in me, I conferred not with flesh and blood, 
neither went I up to Jerusalem to them who were apostles before 
me ;' nor indeed had he occasion so to do, as his call, commission, and 
works, were all clearly and fully shown him by the manifestations 
of that grace that called him to be a labourer in the Lord's vine- 
yard ; hence then the gospel which he preached, not being according 
to man, neither received from man, but by the revelation of Jesus 
Christ, he stood upon the sure foundation, the immutable Rock of 
all generations, where holy certainty is only to be found. 

"R S." 

R. S. to Lucy Co^ran. 

" Thou the other night became so much the subject of 

my petition, that I thought I would attempt a few lines to thee, 
It is probable, indeed, little may occur worth sending, yet the 
innocent babbling of children, with one another pleases themselves, 
and although it may not be to any edification or improvement, yet 
does no hurt. Indeed, there is a striking analogy between little 
children by nature, and those who are born from above, in the infant 
state of religion : the child of God cries for something, it does not 
well know what ; it does not desire to know, but it wants to be fed ; 
its growth and its strength are acquired by its feeding, not by its 
increase of understanding, which yet as it is necessary and useful, 



158 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

arrives in its season, and is added by degrees. And as we cannot 
add one cubit to our stature, as natural men, so neither by taking 
much thought can we add to our religious growth : this is the work 
of God, as saith the Scripture. In this day, there is so much re- 
volting from the genuine spirit of Christianity, and the few that are 
sound in the faith, and alive in the root, are so rejoiced at the pros- 
pect of any of the visited youth coming forward in stability and 
service, that there is sometimes a danger lest such youth should be 
carried off their own legs, and pulled forward into action beyond 
their proper strength, and the right requirings of duty. Only let us 
be inward and diligent in our spirits, keeping to our own particular 
exercise, and attending to the account current, which is between the 
great Lord of the household and our own souls respectively, making 
short reckonings, and taking up no false rest till Infinite Mercy 
forgives the debt ; so shall we, though poor, witness content, and 
though not abounding, yet have a little sufficiency. Those who 
have opportunity of being much in the society of eminent religious, 
experienced Friends, and heap up to themselves teachers and the 
good things which they teach, are like people who cut a figure in 
trade, but the stock is not their own ; they borrow here and borrow 
there, appear to be useful and liberal, and yet there is more of show 
than real substance. Let us, my dear child, be content to be among 
the little and low, and in the lower class of disciples, yet renewedly 
feeling after the evidence of being disciples indeed, waiting diligently 
to hear the Master's instructions, and to learn each our own lesson, 
in our own book ; and I believe this is thy steady care, and that thy 
heart is far from being haughty, nor thy eyes lofty, nor that thou 
exercisest thyself in things too high for thee. I doubt not but thou 
hast behaved and quieted thyself as a child that is weaned of his 
mother, and I wish thee to be more and more weaned from every 
dependence short of that hope which the sweet psalmist speaks of 
in the same place, c Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth, 
and for ever/ 

" I am, my dear Lucy's very affectionate friend, 

" B, S." 

E. S. to her Husband. 

" Ballitore, 5th of First Month, 1784. 

" It gives me satisfaction that thou feelest support, 

and a belief that thou art in thy place. I am willing to give up thy 
company, (which is very desirable to us,) for the promotion of righte- 






MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 159 

ousness, as I appear now to be of very little use but to stick by the 
stuff, and keep our outward things together as well as I can. It is 
a strength and comfort to those who are going off the stage of action, 
to hear of those who are in the prime of life for service in the church, 
devoting themselves to it ; and particularly those of one's own family. 
I wish Samuel and Margaret's establishment in every good word and 
work ; and apprehend the way to be so, is to keep low, and humbly 
dependent on that all-sufficient Power, which can enable the strip- 
lings, like David, to make war successfully against the Philistine 
nature, both in themselves and others, steadily labouring that self 
may be of no reputation : and then I doubt not, but they will be 
prosperous and useful in their generation, and have wisdom afforded 
them to train up their dear children, both by example and precept, 
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 

"E. S." 

From R S. to D. C. 

" Ballitore, 17th of Second Month, 1784. 

" My dear Cousin, 

"lam glad our poor child was so agreeable to you 

there. I am pleased that we let her go to you. The hand of an 
infinitely wise and gracious Providence saw meet, (I believe,) to 
unite the hearts of the parents, with a holy cement of his pure love, 
and I trust it is of the same condescending goodness, that a friend- 
ship is formed among our children. May we, of the retiring gene- 
ration, be happily continued objects of Divine regard and compassion, 
and be endued from season to season, with fresh supplies of heavenly 
wisdom, that so we may walk in and before our families with pro- 
priety, and leave such vestiges in all parts of our conduct, as our 
successors may safely follow ; and may our beloved offspring and their 
connexions, having been favoured to see a glimpse of the beauty 
which is in the Truth, dwell low, in humble, watchful fear, that this 
eye may ever be kept open in them, that the vision may be more 
and more cleared and extended, and the god of this world never be 
permitted to close or obscure with the dust of the earth, or dazzle 
and dim with worldly splendour ! I am anxious for the coming 
forward of the youth of our day : something or other retards their 
growth ; with divers it is not any evil disposition, any criminal pur- 
suit, but I fear there is a want of a steady, solid, diligent waiting, 
for the renewal of those baptisms, which purge the soul, and prepare 
it for further illuminations and discoveries of duty. There is a 



160 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLET03S". 

seeking and desiring after good, and a looking towards the servants 
and messengers, and expecting from them ; but if, under a sense of 
our wants and weaknesses, our attention was more immediately 
turned to the Master himself, and our dependence more abstractedly 
fixed on Him, I believe there would be more of a growing in the 
root, the tender plant would sooner become a tree of righteousness, 
and fruit would be brought forth in due season, grateful to God 
and man. 

" Thy last letter, my dear cousin, was forwarded to me to Clonmel, 
where I was visiting my children and grandchildren ; my principal 
delay there was the family visit at Clonmel and Garryroan-side, in 
which I was requested to join, and thought it best to encourage the 
service, as I happened to be there. Benjamin Grubb, John Grubb, 
Robert Dudley and wife, and William Fennell, were principals in 
the visit. I think a degree of best Help was afforded, and it was 
generally performed, I believe, to good satisfaction. I was much 
taken with Benjamin Grubb's manner, it was instructive, exemplary 
and edifying to me ; he left the world and its business, (of which he 
has a considerable share,) to his hopeful children and servants, and 
set himself earnestly and steadily about this business, ran about 
here and there arranging, appointing and giving notice to families, 
to suit their convenience and save time. When we sat down with 
a family, he generally opened the way, (after a previous time of solid 
waiting,) by letting them know it was an opportunity of religious 
conference by appointment of their meeting of discipline, and pro- 
ceeded to recite the substance of some of the most important of the 
Quarterly Meeting's Queries, one after another, to which answers 
were sometimes severally given, and occasion taken to make remarks, 
give advice, &c, as seemed suitable. Benjamin is in the church much 
as he is in the world, he is an honest, upright, downright man, deals 
upon his own stock, affects to be nothing but what he really is, 
speaks his mind plainly and simply, and is more in substance than 
in show. Mary Dudley appeared at times most beautifully amongst 
us, it was the beauty of holiness indeed, than which nothing is more 

splendidly excellent In this tour we met with dear M. W. 

I have long and often felt near friendship for her, and thou may well 
think her present situation did Dot make her less dear to me ; afflic- 
tion by melting down seems to unite friends, and mingle their 
spirits more intimately, as fire dissolves metals and causes them to 

incorporate in one mass 

" Thy affectionate friend, 

" R. S." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. ] 61 

R. S. to Mary Dudley. 

" Ballitore, 4dh of Third Month, 1784. 
"I did not expect that I should have remained so long silent 
after the receipt of my dear friend's very kind and obliging letter, 
but indisposition, and engagements at home and abroad, combined 
to prevent my writing. I was concerned to hear of thy illness and 
confinement; thou hast been often ailing, and I have often thought 
about thee. We are variously modified in our mental complexions, 
habits, and dispositions, and our common Creator and Preserver uses 
various means in correcting, reforming and preparing us. Sometimes 
the body is touched, sometimes the mind, and sometimes the out- 
ward substance. Our best way at all events, appears to me to make 
haste to get under the shelter of the wing of Omnipotence ; there, 
contemplating and meditating that all things good and evil are 
allotted or permitted to us by Infinite Wisdom, and resigning all to 
the disposal and ordering hand of our great Benefactor and best 
Friend, we settle in a comfortable composure and acquiescence with 
the Divine will. This should be our daily labour, to feel after 
and witness the hiding of His power ; the day of tranquillity and 
prosperity is not only the most acceptable, but the most convenient 
and commodious day for this purpose ; while affliction of body and 
distress of mind are suspended, we can more readily get into that 
stillness and patient waiting, in which is experienced the renewing 
of spiritual strength. Let us imitate the halcyon, or whatever bird it 
is, which is said to build its nest on the fluctuating sea in a calm. 
May thy temper of mind and body often witness this calm, and thy 
nest (the dispensation which thou mayst be under,) be watched 
over and guarded by Him that rules the winds and waves of this 
tumultuary life ! I am earnestly solicitous that nothing should hurt 
thee, neither heights nor depths, things present nor yet to come. 
The Cause which thou hast been honoured in giving thy voice in 
support of, is the greatest, the noblest, the most interesting and 
important that ever existed on earth, so glorious that even the 
angels desire to look into it. Mayst thou be enabled to keep such 
wise and diligent watch over thy vessel, which contains the heavenly 
treasure, that when thou drawest out of it for others, at the Master's 
bidding, the liquor may be ever unadulterated, pure and precious : 
this will tend to the glory of him that has called thee to bring forth 
much fruit, to the edification of the Church, and to the consolidating 

of thy own peace The door of admission into unity 

with the living members of the Church of Christ is by baptism, that 

M 



162 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

baptism which often repeated and continued, purges and cleanses the 
soul from the spots and defilement of the world, and reduces to the 
state of a little child, in which only the kingdom is to be received. 
Many are the devices of the enemy to hurt and hinder the Lord's 
work ; and if he finds he cannot prevail to draw back wholly and 
palpably into the world again, he often endeavours to allure to take 
up a rest too soon, so the inward man in the new creation is in- 
complete, the holy leaven has not pervaded the whole mass, the 

cake has not been turned. May it not be so with -, but may 

she follow on to know the Lord, in the progressive operations of his 
Spirit and turning of his hand upon her, that if he has been her 
Alpha, he may also be her Omega, if he has mercifully laid the 
foundation, he may be graciously pleased to lay the top-stone of her 

spiritual building ! 

" My wife and children join me in kind greetings to thee and thy 
husband and all your house. May it be mercifully preserved to be as 
the house of Obed-edom, where the ark of the testimony rested, and 
in consequence, the Divine blessing rested also ! Whenever freedom 
and convenience will unite to induce thee to give me a line, I shall 
esteem it as a particular favour, for be assured thy correspondence 
is highly grateful, as thy welfare is very dear to thy truly 

" Affectionate friend, 

" R. S/ J 

R. S. to Mary Watson. 

"Ballitore, 16th of Fourth Month, 1784. 



My dear Friend 



"I sat down with an intent to write to my beloved daughter 

M , but a beloved friend interfered among my feelings, and 

I thought I would send thee a salutation of my unfeigned love. 
I purpose (if all be well) to set off to-morrow for Dublin, in order to 
the Yearly Meeting. I seem a poor, tottering feeble creature ; but 
as way has been aforetime made, and I have been helped along, so 
I humbly rely on the same ordering hand and protecting care : it is 
well for us, my beloved friend, to centre here, — to have Infinite Wis- 
dom graciously to condescend to direct us, and Omnipotence to help 
us along, is certainly best and happiest for us. Known to the 
Almighty are our several habits, dispositions, and propensities, and 
he best knows how to modify, control, refine, and prepare so as to 
make us altogether, the whole lump, that very thing which he would 
have us to be. In that freedom of communication which I almost 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 163 

always feel with thee in a peculiar manner, when there is oppor- 
tunity for it, I recollect that I have often found myself disposed to 
mention the usefulness, the necessity of experiencing our spirits to 
be reduced, and to magnify, if I may so say, humility of heart ; it 
appears still to me to be the King's gate at which we should reside, 
the door of entrance at which we should patiently wait. Wherever 
others may be carried in the rovings of their vain imaginations, be 
this thy dwelling and assuredly all will be well. Resign thyself in 
nothingness to the creating, forming, squaring hand of the great 
Architect, and I doubt not he will build thee up an holy temple to 
his praise, a temple wherein the daily sacrifice will be acceptably 
offered, and the incense of pure gratitude and thanksgiving will joy- 
fully ascend, instead of mourning and lamentation 

" My dear friend, dearlv farewell, 

" K S." 

R, S. to L. S. 

" Dublin, Uh of Fifth Month, 1784, 

" My dear Lydia, 

"I am much obliged and gratified by thy very kind epistle. It 
was more than I expected, though not more than I desired ; for I 
love every communication that comes from thee, and thy communi- 
cations were highly acceptable : they left a relish on my mind which 
has strengthened it, and helped to support it, during some of the 
cloudy part of this day. My children are all subjects of joy and 
gratitude to me ; and thy accession to their number is a great acces- 
sion to my satisfaction. I pray that thou and thy husband may be 
graciously preserved objects of Divine mercy and favour — that ye 
may ever dwell in the lowly valley, where the dew lies long, and 
there gather the fresh manna in your own vessels, little or much, 
according to your measures ; if it be but little, if it be of the right 
kind, it will suffice : no lack will be experienced. They that wait 
on the Lord will want no good thing. One grain of gold is better 
than a great deal of baser metal. I am sensible, my beloved child, 
that the God of thy ancestors has visited thee ; be thou, therefore, 
humbled in soul before him, and dedicated and devoted, in all thy 
faculties, to his service. Say not to the heavenly visitation, c Hitherto 
shalt thou come, and no further ; and here shall thy waves be staid.' 
But consign and resign thyself to the disposal of Him who knows 
best what is best for us, and will best answer His gracious purposes 
respecting us. Our great loss is, in that we are apt to be cutting 
and carving for ourselves ; and so, taking ourselves out of the 

M 2 



164 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

Creator s hand, (who made the* world out of nothing,) we become 
as vessels marred upon the potter's wheel. The symmetry of the 
parts of the inward man, all its texture and fabric, and features, 
would be right, and good, and proper, and the beauty of holiness 
conspicuous, if we left ourselves to be fashioned entirely according to 
the Divine will. 

" I am called to supper. I leave thee with a degree of reluc- 
tance : that is, I leave conversing with thee ; for thou art much in 
my thoughts, and near my heart 

" I have always much pleasure in subscribing myself, my dear 
Lydia's affectionate father, 



R. S. 



R. S. to ins Daughter G 



" Foston, 8th of Seventh Month, 1784. 

"lam often, I think, favoured with a capacity to re- 
commend me and mine to the protection of Omnipotence ; and I 
humbly trust the contrite petition and wrestling travail of spirit is 
graciously heard and answered. Indeed, if merciful help and regard 
were not renewedly extended to us, what would become of us in any 
sense or respect ? But he who is Lord of heaven and earth, and 
holds spiritual and temporal blessings in his hands, perfectly knows 
and sees what we stand in need of, and what is best and most suit- 
able for us. If, by his holy help and special grace, we be happily 
preserved in his fear, walking acceptably before him, we shall do 
well, and want no good thing. His Spirit bearing witness with our 
spirits that we please hiin, will bear us up above the little contin- 
gencies which are apt to perplex and annoy us, as well as above the 
floods of temptation and tribulation, which seem at times ready to 
swallow us up. And if the counsel of perfect, unerring Wisdom be, 
that any shall be serviceable in His hand, for promoting the great cause 
of pure and undefiled religion upon earth, such may assuredly expect 
a double portion, the portion of an eldest son, of trials and temp- 
tations, and sittings, and exercises, in order to peculiar winnowing, 
and purging, and pruning, and to a preparation and qualification 
experimentally to minister to the various states of others. 

" I had satisfaction in attending the Yearly Meeting. It was 
remarkable for the establishment of a women's Yearly Meeting, which 
I hope will, in a course of time, and in the order of its course, prove 
of service in our religious Society. The men seem to have slept a 
long time over this matter ; but now, like the rib which was taken 
out of Adam's side while he slept, I hope it will, in process of 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLE::- 165 

time, become a true help-meet to the men in the discipline of the 

cLv-ro-. 

"R S. 

E. S. T€ his Wipe. 

: Jfibi w>kl ale, Uh of Eighth, Month, ~r--. 

Fhis i: the most extraordinary place I ever was in : 
:_ri: is such a mixture of religion and worldly business, human 
learning and Christian simplicity, among the people ; such a native, 
wild inegulari:~. subdued and cultivated md ;-;ulence : about 

the place 

"I have m~ upg and .".; usual* but my heart is never 

so comfortable, and I am never so well satisfied with myself as 
d I am in the der a with : he billows passing over my head, 
engaged in a travail :: spirit foi the promotion :: mristianity 
and the welfare of mankind. I sometimes venture, in private, to 
express something of my fresh feelings, and to bring out of the 
store-housr things that have been rej mined there, and are presently 
brought to hand; bin ::j sry is for humility and wisdom, that I 
may be mercifully [ reserve 3 myself fi - m falling, and that I may not 
be tempted to exceed the life and authority of Truth: I know 
nothing more excellent, nor more desirable, than the living virtue of 
it qualifying our spirits, and enabling fee move in the Lord's work. 
I wish it, above ail things ::: mrselves : I wish it, above all things, 
for our children : that fchey : as wefl as we, may surrender themselves, 
at the Great Captain's discretion, make no terms of capitulation in 
Bng up the citadel of their hearts, only that life, spiritual life, 
may be granted them — tha: they may I a taken into the service of 
their Lord. There is no other service which is attended with such 
advantages : there is safety and protection in it, from the usurpation 
.: ::her lords which have had dominion, — there is maintenance, 
clothing, and pay, — :'_r:r is honour, dignity, and immortal glory ; all 
these blessed privileges and re 1 ^: rds arc involved in this important 
saose. I believe our children are not insensible of this, and I 
heartily desire that their obedience in all things may keep pace with 
the knowledge communicated to them. ' Hear and obey, and your 
souls shall live/ is worthy of all acceptation. First, to be diligent in 
waiting, in order to hear the still small voice, which is of private 
interpretation to our several states individually; next, to obey in 
submission and faithfulness the discoveries of the Divine will in the 
jots and tittles, as weD as :"..-: weigbtiei parts of the law — in what 



166 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

concerns ourselves, as well as in our relative duties to others : so 
shall we be favoured with the inspiration of that exhilarating breath 

of life, which makes and preserves us living souls 

" R. S. v 

E. S. to John Thorp. 

"Ballitore, 21s* of Ninth Month, 1784. 

" How little, how nothing is at our command ! However, it is 
our duty to endeavour to be always ready, that if a ministering angel 
of good has in charge to impart any to us, we may be found in a 
state capable of receiving it ; and if the prince of this world should 
also come with his temptations, that he may be baffled in his designs. 
One and the same state is necessary in both cases — a state of empti- 
ness, nothingness, and abasement of self. This is our centre ; and 
as each of us industriously acts within his proper circle, and fulfils 
his reasonable duty, we shall know, I believe, an extension of the 
cord of Divine love and authority, an increase of holy zeal and 
ability, and a wide field of labour. For my part, I never expect 
to be worth calling any thing : I am satisfied to be nothing, so I 
be but preserved from any thing that is evil ; but I want thee, and 
such as thee, to be what you ought to be, or in other words, what 
the Master would have you to be. Now, I believe it is the Master's 
will, that his servants should be more and more acquainted with 
his good pleasure, and the ministers of his word, as burning and 
shining lights. I am indeed sometimes astonished at the beauty and 
excellence delegated to some of this class, though, like the planets, 
they have no light of their own — -none, but as they derive it from 
the sun of righteousness. And yet how liable are even such to 
become dim, and suffer eclipse, 'shorn of their beams/ and while 
they are preaching in words to others, to become cast away them- 
selves. So that ' watch and pray' remain to be the words of counsel 
and indispensable injunction to all, without respect of persons/' 

E. S. to Elizabeth Pike. 

" Ballitore, 16th of Twelfth Month, 1784. 

" Dear Friend, 

" Circumstances must at times be submitted to, and 

where the will is good, He that knows the heart is pleased to accept 
of it instead of the deed. We may be debarred from assembling 
with our friends by many impediments and disappointments belong- 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 167 

ing to our state, but if the eye of the mind be turned inward, and 
the expectation is solely from the Source of all good, we shall not 
fail, I believe, of receiving more or less encouragement, and food con- 
venient will be administered, in due season. The day, be sure, calls 
for diligence, and living active members in our religious Society, will 
have enough to do in their several departments ; the harvest is great, 
the field of labour is honourable, and the wages are glorious and 
everlasting, so that I rest in a hope that many of our successors of the 
present generation, will not give their strength entirely to the world, 
either to the profits or pleasures of it ; but considering the ex- 
cellency and dignity of the Cause, the short term of human life, and 
the awfulness of the silent grave to which we hasten, will inquire 
after the Lord God of their forefathers, and nobly aspire after those 
things which make for their present and eternal peace, the know- 
ledge of the Truth, and the promotion of it among men/' 

"R S." 

R. S. to Elizabeth Pim. 

" Ballitore, 19th of Fourth Month, 1785. 
"My dear Friend, 

" Thou and I are two poor, helpless creatures, who 



stand exceedingly in need of Divine help. If He who made us, will 
be graciously pleased to extend His merciful condescending regard 
and care towards us ; if He will take us into the protection of the 
hollow of His hand, and under the hiding of His power, we then shall 
live before Him ; otherwise we shall be agitated by every conflict, 
as reeds shaken by the wind, and even our natural lives, from one 
cause or other, become a burden. But I trust, my beloved friend, 
that He who hath visited, and cultivated, and planted, and watered, 
and preserved, will continue to cast a compassionate eye upon us, 
will support, and direct, and open our way before us. "We are blind 
and ignorant, but He is perfectly wise, into whose hand we commit 
our spirits to be moulded, modelled, rectified and sanctified, accord- 
ing to His will. Here then, let us hold ; let us leave all to Him, 
who hath cared and will care for us, if we be chaste in our love to 
Him, and faithful and obedient in every jot and tittle of His law 
legibly engraven on the tablet of our hearts ; but remember, a little 
cloud intercepts the rays of the sun from us, and unfaithfulness in 
matters comparatively small will preclude the enlivening warmth 
and strengthening virtue of Divine favour. 

"R. S." 



168 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

R. S. to Abiah Darby. 

" Ballitore, 2lst of Fourth Month, 1785. 
" My desires are for us that are advanced in age, that 



we may so run, as not uncertainly, so fight not as one that beateth 
the air ; but that feeling, as we increase in years, after an increase 
of spiritual life, we may have no confidence in the flesh, in natural 
talents or former religious experiences, but still waiting for the fresh 
anointing, and the renewed putting forth, move in any little service 
according to the present qualification and ability given. It is a 
common saying, that ' very old men are twice children/ May we, 
my dear and honoured friend, if we should arrive at that stage of 
life, experimentally know the renewal of the child's state, to which 
belongeth the kingdom, ' as new-born babes desiring the sincere 
milk of the "Word, that we may grow thereby/ This is what pre- 
serves green and fruitful in old age, keeps from decay in root and 
branch ; and this I trust is and will be thy renewed experience to 

the end of time Whether I shall see it best to endeavour 

to get to the ensuing Yearly Meeting or not, I cannot yet say ; I 
greatly desire to be preserved from over-doing and impertinently 
meddling, as well as to be devoted in all my faculties, such as 
they are, to the promotion of the most glorious Cause that ever 

existed 

" Thy sincere friend, 

" R S." 

E. S. to D. C. 

" Ballitore, 3rd of Seventh Month, 1785. 
"Mv dear Cousin, 

I returned home from my English expedition, with 



Sally, 20th ult. ; we were favoured to get well along, and I hope the 
journey was profitable to both of us. Providence was kind and 
gracious in his protection of us, and in making our journeying and 
our sojourning prosperous. I could not but mark the peculiarity of 

it in several instances, I hope with humble gratitude 

On leaving the Dale, cousin D. Darby would needs accompany us 
to Shrewsbury, her company was very acceptable, she wished us to 
stay next day, their Week-day Meeting at Shrewsbury, we were 
almost consenting, but in the morning, something of Condescending 
Goodness seemed to come over us as we sat together, and having 
had agreeable communications therein, we thought it best to part. 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 169 

We just got in time to reacli the packet which was going 

under sail, having succeeded so well in getting on board, we were 
in great hopes that we should get to Dublin the next day, but the 

wind fell away, and our spirits, and it flattened together 

It was tedious to be so long at sea coming from Holyhead, but 
certain circumstances contributed to make it more tolerable ; 'the 
sea was calm, unruffled, like a large river, the sun set with great 
lustre, the moon rose with great brightness, we were not sick, the 
porpoises gambled about the ship, as if to divert us with their play, 
the fish offered themselves in shoals, and we caught them exceed- 
ingly fast, and eat heartily of them, mostly gurnet ; but what crowned 
all, the wind sprung up the last night in our favour, and we landed 
in time to be at meeting in Dublin, on the 19th. Samuel Emlen, 
George Dillwyn and Rebecca Jones were at it, and a baptizing 
meeting it proved, as well also the afternoon ; we got home the 
next day and found all well, which is cause of additional gratitude. 
Indeed numberless are the favours which I am daily partaking of, 
and the desire of my heart is, that I may be enabled to walk wisely, 
and in some degree worthily, bringing honour to Him and to His 
cause, who hath done so very much for me, After writing the 
above, I went to Newtown, intending to finish and send this at my 
return, but our meeting of conference there continued so long that I 
was late for the post, and had but just time to get to our afternoon 
meeting. I think such visits and conferences have their use ; there 
are many raw people among us, who want to be informed and 
instructed ; many points of discipline which ought to be explained 
and enforced ; and where true charity (gospel love) is the covering 
of the spirit, under this covering and qualification, things of a very 
close and delicate nature may be spoken to, without fear of giving 
offence ; when the feet are shod with this preparation, we may tread 

on briars and thorns without being hurt The genuine 

spirit of Christianity seeketh not its own, (what it is justly entitled 
to, by way of concession, and acknowledgment, and atonement,) but 
forgives, and earnestly seeks, and desires the welfare, not only of 
friends, but enemies ; it is disinterested, not only as to worldly 

advantages, but as to the honour and reputation of self. 

" Farewell, dear cousin, 

" R. S." 



170 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

R. S. to Mary Watson. 

" Ballitore, 10th of Seventh Month, 1785. 
" My dear Cousin, 

" Though our poor, finite conceptions, cannot compre- 
hend this dealing of Infinite Wisdom, with this seemingly innocent 
creature, A. T., yet doubtless it is right, and the good hand of 
Providence is singularly remarkable in ordering this poor thing's 
situation to be in a family where so much cordial affection and friend- 
ship are shown to her, as well as among such sympathising friends. 
This revives in my mind an observation which I have had cause 
frequently to make, that however deeply and variously we may be 
tried, yet some means of alleviation are cast up, some place of refuge 
is appointed ; if we be bereaved of one comfort, another is left us : 
if we be reduced, we are not altogether destitute ; though we put 
our mouths as in the dust, yet there is hope. And certainly, by 
how much the nearer we cleave to the Rock of all-sufficient help, 
by how much the more entirely we cast our care upon Him, by how 
much the closer we walk with His Spirit, and obey His commands in 
all things ; in so much greater degree we shall become objects of His 
Divine notice, favour and protection, as is said, ' Who is he that 
shall harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good V Be en- 
couraged, therefore, my beloved friend ; lift up thy head above the 
waters, wait diligently to know the Master's will, and when clearly 
seen with all simplicity and fidelity perform it ; so wilt thou walk in 
unity, in unison with the Spirit, and this thou wilt experience to 
be the bond and seal of thy peace. We have many temptations to 
grapple with, while engaged in this warfare, in common with mankind 
in general, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of 
life ; and those who have been chosen out of the world, and by a 
high and holy Hand separated to services in the Church of Christ, 
have their peculiar baits and snares laid for them, by an insidious, 
assiduous adversary, who is still practising on their natural dispo- 
sitions, or local, temporary habits, and accommodation of manners, 
in order to unfit, disqualify, or to impede the work going on in them. 

So that ' Watch and pray/ or wait unto prayer, remains the 
standing, salutary precept for all, through all generations, lest we 
should enter into temptation; the spirit of the man, under the 
immediate operation of the Spirit of Truth, is willing ; but the 
flesh, in which dwelleth no good thing, is weak, is in danger of 
declining to ease and indolence, and being carried down the stream 
of too general lukewarmness and indifference. This is a polluted 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 171 

rest, in which too many have settled, but, through the economy of 
a gracious, all-wise Parent, this rest has been disturbed to some, 
they have seen it to be unsafe, unsanctified, and have forsaken it ; 
may all such, who have been thus roused from a false rest to active 
labour, grow more and more in a capacity for service, they can never 
serve in a more noble cause, they can never be employed by a better 
Master. While I was writing this letter, I was gratified by some 
favours in this way from my friends in England I under- 
stand there is a letter addressed to a Friend Fox, who went to Paris, in 
order to refund some prize-money which he had received during the 
war, and which had been a burden to his mind. The letter is from 
Nismes, in the province of Languedoc, written by one person on be- 
half of about an hundred, who call themselves Quakers ; it appears, 
my correspondent says, in an agreeable style, though not quite what 
we are used to, — as it was written in French, it may suffer by the 
translation. These people, I learn, are not exempt from military 
service, but they have some indulgence, and look forward with hope 
of further toleration. Thus there seems as if there were some stir- 
ring of good in different nations, and the prospect of the principle 
of Truth spreading is pleasing and comfortable. 

" My dear friend and cousin farewell, 

"R. S." 

E. S. to . 



" Ballitore, 12th of Seventh Month, 1785, 

" Dear Friend, 

" Having mentioned to thee that I did not know but I should 
take the liberty of writing a few lines to thee on a subject which 
there was not then time to discuss, and thou having repeated thy 
desire that I would, I attempt it (I think I may truly say) in humi- 
lity, in diffidence, and in a consciousness of my own comparative 
weakness and inferiority. We were speaking about thy not having 
had a certificate to the meeting of discipline at , and conse- 
quently not being regularly a member of it. In my opinion, several 
inconveniences and confusion attend such a situation, and it is 
incompatible with the good order of Society, a precedent of danger- 
ous tendency : a Friend thus circumstanced may hold himself loose 
and disengaged, may think he may attend the meeting of discipline 
or not, as it suits his convenience and inclination, and when he 
does attend, may excuse himself from meddling with any part of 
the business which he does not like to touch, as not being authen- 
ticated a member of the meeting. This I apprehend to be a great 



172 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

hurt to the party, as well as loss to Society, those who wish well to 
the Cause should wish to be both qualified and authorized to support 
it, in their several lots and degrees. It is a Cause which admits of 
no neutral professors. The Head of the Church expressly declares, 
1 He that is not with me is against me : and he that gathereth not 
with me scattereth abroad/ And indeed, my friend, as the Cause 
is the most noble that was ever introduced upon earth, being no less 
than the cause of Christ and the salvation of the souls of all men, 
whoever will become qualified rightly to support it must be made 
willing to stoop exceedingly low, they must pass through many 
baptisms, and undergo various operations and dispensations, before 
they become fit to be honoured with a portion of the Lord's service, 
which dignifies beyond all human honours, and is rewarded with 
eternal glory. Our great Pattern, when he graciously condescended 
to leave the bosom of his Father, to descend to this earth and take 
our own nature upon him, left us an example how we should demean 
ourselves in fulfilling our duties in the Church. In the article of 
washing the feet of the disciples, which I think bears a strong ana- 
logy to the transacting of the discipline, (being cleansed by Christ, 
and cleansing the feet, i. e., the goings of one another,) he did not 
go about it in an ordinary, cursory, light, indifferent manner, he 
addressed himself to the business officially as a servant : c He riseth 
from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and 
girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began 
to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel where- 
with he was girded/ And to this memorable example, replete with 
instruction, he adds this instructive document, ' Ye call me Master 
and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am. If I then your Lord and 
Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's 
feet, for I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have 
done to you.' And as one that knew how absolutely, how essen- 
tially necessary, a thorough humiliation of self was to a right quali- 
fication, he makes use of his strongest asseveration to impress it on 
our minds, — " Verily, verily, I say unto you : the servant is not 
greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent, greater than he 
that sent him/ I have no doubt, dear friend, of thy attachment to 
the welfare of the religious Society of which thou art a member, and 
if thou hast followed on to know the Lord in all his manifestations 
to thee, if thou hast been faithful to the discoveries of his will in 
all things, if he has the uppermost room in thy heart, and thou art 
dedicated to him in all thy faculties, no doubt but our poor Society 
will reap the benefit of the good fruits brought forth, thy life will be 
happy and honourable, and thy end (if thou perseverest to the end) 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETOX. 1 7-3 

•will be peace. But if there be a consciousness that something is 
still lacking, that notwithstanding the filling up the moral duties of 
life with a good degree of propriety, there has not been a selling all 
in the will and affections, a distributing to those who are poor in 
religious poverty, and a following of Christ in the way and manner 
of his leadings in the path of the cross and self-denial, let us 
remember that time, and what we may term ' more convenient 
seasons/ are not at our command, that the consummation of all 
things approaches with inconceivable rapidity, and for ought we 
know may be just at the door, that there is no work nor device in 
the long repose of the grave, and that an irreversible decree seals all 

up for ever 

" I am, with sincere attachment and good wishes, 

" Thv affectionate friend, 

"K. S." 

R, S. to his Daughter G . 



" Ballitore, 20th of Eighth Month, 1785. 
...... cc Health is an extraordinary favour : I think it is 

wonderful that the machines of our bodies should go such a length 
of time without being out of order, considering the complicated 
variety, and minuteness and delicacy of the organs which compose 
them. May we be enabled acceptably to acknowledge, and often 
return due homage for the manifold mercies which we receive our- 
selves, and also to intercede for divine protection and relief, to be 
extended to others in distress and affliction of body and mind ! I 
doubt not thy frequent visits to such : they are more becoming a 
Christian society — more befitting the disciples of Christ to be exer- 
cised in, than insipid, formal, cursory visits of show and ceremony, 
where light, superficial talk, and an impertinent busying in other 
people's matters is indulged. This is not the intercourse which the 
Lord has chosen for his people, but that they should seek to visit 
one another in his name, under the influence of his pure power, and 
therein either keep to an inward travail of spirit for the arising of it, 
or, in a proper freedom, maintain a conversation savoury and edify- 
ing. This, I apprehend, is the way to grow in sendee. Time is 
short, and is minutely to be accounted for. The work we are called 
to, the spreading of the holy principles of Christianity among men, 
is awfully important : where is the room then for idleness, supine- 
ness, and indifference, among those who are called to be standard- 
bearers among the people ? 



174 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

" Our poor nation is much destitute of instrumental help, in 
many places. A living, sound ministry, accompanied and corro- 
borated by irreproachable, wise, and religious conduct and conversa- 
tion, is a capital favour to the churches It behoves 

those who sit as judges, to feel their way in determining concerning 
appearances in this line. I have met with variety of opinions in 
these cases, but I ever found it safest for me, where I could feel 
nothing, to remain detached and single, and to be cautious of either 
encouraging or discouraging, till I had an evidence as clear as might 
be expected in the matter. And here, and in many occasional 
affairs arising among us as a religious Society, appears the necessity 
of Divine Wisdom illuminating our understandings, and qualifying 
us to judge right judgment. A sense of this has, at times, much 
humbled and prostrated my spirit, with desire that whatever little, 
or however little I might be, I might be what the Master would 

have me to be — I might be right 

"R S." 

E. S. to Mary Watson. 

" Ballitore, 22nd of Tenth Month, 1785. 

"My dear Cousin, 

" There are divers of our acquaintances who seem to 

be about taking their flight to that land, from whence there is no 
return. Perhaps some of us may have to stay a little longer in this 
world ; may best Wisdom conduct our steps in the midst of a crooked 
and perverse generation ! May we put on Christ, his nature and 
spirit, who was ' meek and lowly in heart, who when he was reviled, 
reviled not again, when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed 
himself to him that judgeth righteously/ This is the Spirit which 
will carry us through, and by which we shall in the Lord's time, 
the best time, know an overcoming ; depend on it, the deeper we 
go down in baptism, the more fully we are washed from all filthiness 
of flesh and spirit, and the more perfectly we fulfil, in humility 
and patience, all our respective preparatory dispensations, the more 
polished and beautiful will be the stones of memorial which we shall 
bring up, the more clear will our innocence and integrity be mani- 
fested, and the more solid and permanent will be our peace. I have 
an earnest desire, my dear friend, for thy being perfectly right ; I do 
not want thee to be great and eminent, and conspicuous in any line, 
but whatever thou art, though ever so little, that it may be of the 
Lord's creation and formation ; gold is said to be the most heavy, as 



MEMOIRS OP RICHARD SHACKLETON. 175 

it is reckoned the most precious of all metals. Whatever there is 
in thy spiritual stock, though ever so small, may it be pure, beaten 
gold ! He, whom thou desirest to serve, He, who has led thee in a 
humiliating, tribulated path, as thy eye is single to Him, will show 
thee, will instruct and direct thee in the way that thou shouldst go ; 
and if thou walkest faithfully in it, will give thee the sure seal, the 
internal evidence of Divine approbation, and as much favour and 
acceptance with men, as will tend to thy profit in every respect. . . . 
" Farewell, my beloved friend ! mayst thou prosper in every good 
word and work ! 

"R S." 

R. S. to Richard Burke. 

" Ballitore, 21st of Twelfth Month, 1785. 
" My dear Richard, 

" I was obliged by thy letter and the book,* I have read it my- 
self, and am reading it to my wife ; I am entertained, informed, 
and instructed by it. I am always glad when Edmund writes, 
because he then speaks not only to the present age of the world, but 
to future ages. Prejudice, passion, and faction decay in time, they 
die a natural death, and then good sense and sound reasoning are 
heard, their plea is impartially attended to, and judgment is given 
in their favour. I know so few, and am so little known, that 
it is hard for me to say what the general sentiment of people, who 
read and think in this country is, respecting the book, but I believe 
it is mostly approved of by such. Indeed, when a public man 
writes, I think people generally divide in their declared opinions, 
not according to the merits of the work, but the prejudices which 
they have conceived respecting the man ; the colour and cha- 
racter of the writer are given to his writings, and the author and 
the book are held in the same estimation. I acknowledge my 
prejudice and partiality too, but I do not think these disqualify 
me for judging, so much as a want of capacity ; to decide on the 
merits of such a performance, requires more philosophical and 
political knowledge than ever fell to my share. I have learned 
very little, but that little has been sufficient to let me see my 
great ignorance. 

" What put it in thy head, my dear Richard, that I had been in 
France ? I never was on any continent. Some of our religious 
Society have been lately in France and Germany, under a per- 
* Reflections on the French Revolution. 



176 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

suasion of duty, disseminating our principles, and I hope some good 
fruits will be the consequence of their gospel labours. A meeting of 
our Friends is established at Dunkirk, and a considerable number 
hold our religious profession in the province of Languedoc, &c, of 
whose stability and growth in religious experience we entertain good 
hopes. How they are likely to be affected by the strange commo- 
tions in that kingdom, I have not learned. Whether the men there, 
that are turning things upside down, have wisdom to regenerate a 
civil political state, I know not, I rather doubt it, but of this I am 
sure, that they have neither wisdom nor right authority to establish a 
state religion. Christ Jesus, by his Spirit, always ruled, still ruleth, 
and ever will rule in his own church. And when I hear a man 
whom I revere as the greatest luminary in civil society of the age in 
which he lives, when I hear such a man talk of religion or a church 
by law established, I regret that the prejudice of education, and the 
false medium through which he views religious objects, have misled 
his judgment, and from my soul I wish and desire that one ray of 
the light of Divine Revelation might illuminate his excellent under- 
standing, and possess his noble mind with the essence of Christianity. 
Let the world call the profession of it by what opprobrious name they 
will, enthusiasm, or fanaticism, as they formerly called the Master of 
the house Beelzebub ; immediate and divine revelation, the internal 
evidence of the Christian religion, is the only true source of right 
religious knowledge ; and what our Brennan poetically applies to the 
praise of poetry, may justly be said of this holy principle, that it 

1 Exalts man's soul above this earthly clod, 
And more than reason proves him kin to God.' 

" Let me, my dear Richard, repeat my obligations for thy kind 
letter, it is a high treat to us to hear from any of you. Present us 
all in a body to thy right honourable brother, as a family that sin- 
cerely loves and respects him. Tell his nearest, amiable connexions, 
that they have our warm wishes for their health and happiness, and 
accept, my dear old friend, of all our affectionate greetings. 

" Adieu, 

"B. S." 

K. S. to Mary Watson. 

"Ballitore, 20th of Twelfth Month, 1785. 
" My dear Cousin, 
" I was just setting about making some reply to thy last kind 
acceptable letter, when I was interrupted and put it off, I am now 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 177 

seated again for that purpose, not having any store of materials that 
I know of, but desirous to keep alive in this manner the communi- 
cation between us. Tranquillity and a fit disposition of mind to 
converse with our friends are not always ours ; there is a time and 
a season for every thing, and it behoves us diligently to watch the 
motions of life in our own minds, that we may not let slip the oppor- 
tunities of receiving or giving what may be brought to our hand 
for the purpose. The watchful, succinct servant, is in a peculiar 
manner in his Master's favour, being ready at a call, being always 
prepared, he is most frequently employed, and so has most frequent 
access to the Master's presence ; indeed, whatever tends to increase 
and renew our intercourse a,nd acquaintance with the Source of all 
good is sedulously to be cultivated by us : yet all the while, it is 
most certain that even the devoted and dedicated, even the willing: 
and obedient, have great need and daily need with an holy impor- 
tunity to ask for wisdom, that they may know how to behave them- 
selves in the Church of Christ and in the world, bringing forth such 
fruits as that by them, the great Lord is glorified, the just Witness 
in the consciences of all is answered, and their own peace established. 
Need I say, I wish this may be the happy experience of my beloved 
friend, as well as of myself ? That so having in meekness and sim- 
plicity walked exemplarily through life, and been enabled to do our 
day's work faithfully and honestly, in the pure fear, we may accord- 
ing to our several measures, be accepted at the close of all, and enter 
into that uninterrupted, unpolluted rest, which remain eth for the 

people of God 

" R S." 

K. S. to Elizabeth Pim. 

"Ballitore, 2nd of First Month, 1786. 
" My dear Friend, 

" May our dispositions and inclinations be rectified and 

sanctified, that whatever we do, it may be under the Divine bless- 
ing, and under the sanction of Divine approbation ; may our speak- 
ing and our writing be locked and unlocked by the master key of 

the Spirit which opens and shuts in pure and perfect wisdom 

I find myself often in the company of friends whom I esteem and 
love, and yet I do not find much additional satisfaction or edification 
accrue to my mind from their society. It is not easy at public times 
to select individuals, conversation is often interrupted, and sometimes 
takes a turn neither pleasing nor profitable ; let us as much as we 

N 



178 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

can be feelingly cultivating a renewal of our acquaintance with the 
Divine Spring ; then if in diligently searching for it we meet with 
some little streams by the way, which have issued therefrom, perhaps 
unlooked for and unexpected, they will be consolatory and refreshing. 
If we extract any solid comfort and true gratification from the society 
of any creature, it must be by the adjunction of the Creator ; a thou- 
sand ciphers, without the addition of that one, are of no value. 

" R. S" 

R. S. to his Daughter Sarah. 

" Ballitore, 12th of First Month, 1786. 

" The intelligence received of the two Margarets is very 

pleasing, and, I hope, causes grateful sensations. Even thy scraps 
of paper, bearing that impression, are welcome messengers. It puts 
me in mind of the ancient Romans, who were so exceedingly fond of 
Augustus Csesar, in the latter part of his reign, that it is said, I 
think, in their ordinary letters on business or friendship, they gene- 
rally subjoined, ' the emperor is well/ 

" I am glad thou hast had this season of sojourn in Clonmel. I 
hope it will have rivetted still more closely the connexion between 
thee and thy brother's house ; also between thee and divers dear 
valuable friends and relations in that place. I rejoice to see my 
children delight in the company of the worthy and the good, it is a 
sign that the dispositions and inclinations of the inward man are 
rightly modelled and turned : such intimacies add strength to 
strength, they are safe, they are salutary, they are honourable ; but 
a confederacy with the raw, the irreligious, those who are in the 
spirit of the world, and enemies to the cross of Christ, manifests 
unsoundness in the spiritual constitution, by the vitiated taste of 
desiring and relishing food that is not fresh, plain, and wholesome ! 
'Tis dangerous, and destructive to the tender, precious life. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to Mary Watson. 

" Ballitore, 1st of Second Month, 1786. 
" My dear Cousin, 

" Doubtless thou hast felt deep concern on account of 

-, such repeated wounds in one part, must cause an exquisitely 



tender and painful sensation ; it is some alleviation, however, that 
the affair is attended with several favourable circumstances, may it 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 179 

prove a salutary, though it may be a bitter portion ! It seems to 
me as though it was the will of the Great Ruler of the universe, to 
strip off every false covering of every kind and lay us naked and 
bare, (as we really are,) before him and before one another. There 
has been an evil covetousness, the wedge of gold and Babylonish 
garment, — there has been an ostentatious parade, and an aspiring to 
live above the simplicity of Truth, in which is the safety and quiet ; 
the professors of the religion of Jesus Christ, revived in its original 
purity, have not many of them been willing to drink of the cup 
that he drank of, nor to be baptised with the baptism which he 
was baptised with ; we must get lower and deeper, ere we as a 
people become exalted, conspicuous in glory. May such as are 
sensible that these things are so, be favoured with ability to wait 
and watch unto prayer, for preservation from evil, and for strength 
and wisdom to walk wisely before the flock, over which, by Divine 
appointment, they have been made overseers ! All our movements 
are seen and known to our Great Judge, he understandeth all the 
imaginations of the thoughts of our hearts. This fountain must be 
thoroughly and often purified, in order that what proceedeth there- 
from may be sweet, savoury and edifying. A little thing defiles 
and unfits ; so the little things are to be guarded against, as well as 
those of greater magnitude, the secret faults, as well as the flagrant 
sins ; for holiness is to be the clothing of the Lord's servants, and 
this will not be put on any that are unclean ; indeed I often think 
that it is a capital favour, that we are at times so clearly convicted 
in our minds of having said or done amiss, and that the healing 
stripes are so soon administered. But why do I ramble thus in dis- 
course with thee, who I believe art more watchful, more circumspect, 
and more exemplary than I am. These reflections are not personal, 
but general, probably overflowings which I should do well to save for 
myself. 

"R. S." 

R. S. to James Abell. 

"Ballitore, 15th of Second Month, 1786= 

" My dear James, 

" I have felt somehow of late, a listlessness about writing to my 
friends, not so much of an inclination that way as I have expe- 
rienced ; I do not say this alteration is of any thing, but of the flesh. 
I observe divers of our friends, treating on religious subjects, are apt 
to say they are led, they mean to lay claim to a very high authority 

n2 



180 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHAOKLETON. 

by that expression, which I do not refuse them, but I wish them to 
use the term with reverence, humility and religious modesty ; for 
there may be a being led by the light of reason, viewing clearly the 
subject which they are upon, — they may be led by a lively imagina- 
tion connecting one part of it to another, — they may be led by the 
suggestion of the memory recollecting their own former experiences ; 
but to be led by Truth, is to be led, as I apprehend, by the imme- 
diate fresh drawings and constraining power and virtue of the Holy 
Spirit, opening, revealing and authorizing to publish the burden of 
the word. So, my dear James, let thee and me, who are but as 
children, speak as becometh children, husband our little stock, and 
live and act rather under than over our ability. I am sensible it is 
thy case, though I am led, I suppose, by an accidental turn of 

thought to write thus 

" I remark thy state, my dear James, when thou dismissed thy last 
letter, it is a state of progressive experience, of advanced growth. 
Thou must expect greater degrees of hardness and of longer con- 
tinuance than heretofore ; thou must be content to earn thy bread 
by honest labour, and be glad of being put in a way to earn it, by 
getting employment from the Lord of the vineyard ; heavenly wages, 
the bread of life, the wine of the kingdom is of inestimable value, 
none can give too much for the purchase. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to M. Dudley. 

" Ballitore, 10th of Third Month, 1786. 

"I wish your tranquillity, and even the interruption of 

your tranquillity, to be sanctified to you ; that all may (ferment) 
work together for good. Sometimes matters arise so dark, so diffi- 
cult, and perplexing, that we may be ready to say, c this is not of 
the Lord, he is not in this whirlwind/ Yet his hand though un- 
seen is there, and is there for the good of his own children and 
people, whose eye is steadily fixed on him through all and over all ; 
he orders or permits the tempest, but he limits its force, he is not 
only in the sunshine and the calm, but ' he maketh the clouds his 
chariot and walketh upon the wings of the wind ;' and as if this 
were a preparatory dispensation, and what follows was consequential, 
the sweet Psalmist immediately adds, ' he maketh his angels spirits: 

his ministers a flaming fire/ Farewell, my beloved friend! 

Accept thyself and share with thy husband the hearty salutations of 
me and mine. Thou hast long had my best wishes for thy preser- 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 181 

vation and increase in every good ; and they are at this time fervent, 
sincere, and new. 

"& S." 

R. S. to James Abell. 

" Ballitore, \9th of Third Month, 1786. 
" My dear James, 

" There are many clouds and many baptisms, there is 

water and there is fire. I apprehend this last is the dispensation 
under which thou hast lately been and perhaps now art, it is an 
hardening of the clay by direction of the great Potter, after it has 
been repeatedly softened and made pliable by the plastic hand ! 
'Tis not for me to inquire why we are made so, or how we are made 
so, but resignedly to submit to become anything or nothing as 
Infinite Wisdom shall appoint, that Wisdom which rules in the 
material world, which causes the showers to fall and renews the face 
of the earth with vegetation ; that Wisdom also binds the sweet 
influences of nature and locks all up in dreary frost, but in this, as 
well as in that, is his Almighty power and goodness exerted, who 
alone can uncreate, as well as create, and who has been pleased to 
deal marvellously with thee. Mayst thou be favoured with strength 
of inward and outward constitution to bear the continued turnings 
of the Divine Hand, till it has thoroughly purified and refined thee, 
and made thee just that thing (let it be what it will) which the 
Lord would have thee to be. Only be thou pliant and submissive, 
behaving and quieting thyself as a child that is weaned from the 
breast of consolation, at which it has often been admitted to draw, 
and content to be fed with such food and at such seasons as is seen 
to be most convenient for it. I want thee, my dear James, to be 
(what I never expect to be in any great degree) an upright, strong, 
and steady pillar in the house. Be of good cheer, notwithstanding 
the weakness and warping of divers, and the numbers without weight, 
there is in many places a prospect of a good deal of good company 
for thee, a succession of hopeful youth, whom I wish to receive the 
law and the testimony from the Lawgiver himself ; so will they have 
it pure and undefiled : for there is a danger of its having received 
some mixture, some heterogeneous taint in passing through the 

hands of their predecessors I lament that so little of a 

manifestly genuine, right birth in the line of public service, has come 
forth of late amongst us. But perhaps the Lord of all power and 
true ability is about to take the work of reformation more imme- 



182 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

diately into his own hands. Our forefathers were gathered very 
much by a blessing on instrumental labour. We hear now of 
societies collected in several untrodden places by the immediate ope- 
ration of the gospel of Truth, begetting a living faith in the hearts 
of many, and disposing them to meet together, and wait for the 
renewal of its holy virtue to their minds. In your province, indeed, 
there seems to be something brought forth, which I heartily wish, if 
of Divine original, may grow, may flourish, and overspread the land. 
And there is no doubt, but as the creature is preserved in lowliness 
of heart, with the eye single to the glory of God, they who appre- 
hend themselves thus engaged will be favoured from time to time, 
with a clear evidence of the nature of the ground on which they 
stand, and their wise-hearted brethren will also see where they are. 
I understand our dear friend, Samuel Neale, has rather declined of 
late in health. I hope his days will be mercifully lengthened out, 
may he live to see, in a spiritual sense, his children's children and 
peace upon Israel. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to his Daughter Sarah. 

" Ballitore, 2nd of Fourth Month, 1786. 

...... " Letters from my absent, distant children, do me 

good. The observation of their good dispositions often weighs my 
mind down in humble gratitude to the Author of all good ; and yet, 
without keeping up the watch, without seeking to be enabled to offer 
the daily sacrifice in the temple, without dying daily to self, and 
mortifying the carnal will, without keeping low and humble, and 
in a state of absolute dependence on all-sufficient and only-suf- 
ficient help, — without this, we all, both parents and children, shall 
make nothing out in a religious way ; we shall be but as a door on 
its hinges, opening and shutting, and remaining in the same place ; 
we shall be mere formal, lukewarm professors of the faith of Christ, 
but never rightly-spirited, noble advocates in his cause. 

" R, 8." 

R. S. to his Daughter G . 



" Ballitore, 1786. 

" It is w T ell to be made rightly sensible, that to have 

our expectation from the creature is vain and uncertain ; that frailty 
and disappointment are the characteristics of visible things, and that 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 183 

that which is invisible and eternal, can alone satisfy the longings of 
an immortal spirit. I had a letter lately from William Mathews, 
from London. He seems to think well of the person who came over 
to London, from the people who seem to be under some degree of 
convincement in France. He likewise mentions a considerable con- 
vincement in North America. Known to the Almighty Author 
of all good, are his own wise and gracious purposes : how near or 
how far off is the time for a more general spreading of the light of 
Christianity, is among the secret things which it belongs not to us to 
investigate. Neither know we as yet how this matter will turn out ; 
whether it be a clear and open vision that these persons are favoured 
with, and whether faithfulness and stability will be added to right 
knowledge : but of this we may be certain, that Truth is Truth, 
whether men receive it or reject it ; and that no cause ever did, or 
ever will exist, more worthy of the entire dedication and devotion of 

all the faculties of the human mind 

" I have been treated with my grandson's second letter. I think 
he bids fair for being a good scribe. I felicitate him on his beginning 
to learn French, and wish him good speed in it. I observe many get 
a little superficial smattering in that language, and soon lose it : I 
wish it may not be the case with Abraham. This is his season of 
life for learning languages, and those things which chiefly occupy 
the memory. This faculty is now in perfection with him, and should 
be fully employed : it is compared to an arch, which is strengthened 
by the weight laid upon it. In a few years the memory will rather 
decline, and the judgment ripen, when arithmetic and mathematics 
will be in season. I know it is the fashion with many, who do not 
mean to send their sons to universities, to explode and decry Latin as 
an useless acquisition : it may, perhaps, be unprofitable in this sense, 
that it may bring them in no money ; the concerns of civil life may 
be transacted quite as well without it ; the finest productions in that 
language are translated into the mother tongue. French is more 
essential to accomplish the gentleman, to accommodate the traveller, 
and is the most universal vehicle of verbal communication ; but 
Latin has been for ages past, and I believe will be for ages to come, 
(if the world stand,) the ground-work of the literary part of liberal 
education. It is like the root of all the most refined living lan- 
guages ; and when a foundation is laid in this, the rest is readily 
learned. In our own tongue, so many thousand words branch out 
from the Latin, so many Latin words are adopted into our language, 
and become a part of it, and so many familiar Latin phrases and 
expressions are constantly used in speaking and writing, that an 



184 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

ignorance of Latin leaves us much in the dark, and, like bad 
spelling, betrays an original defect in one's tuition. An adept in 
Latin knows, as it were by intuition, the powers and fitness of words 
derived from that fountain, and uses them accordingly ; he has 
opportunity of reading historians, moralists, poets and orators, in a 
language which no translation does any thing like justice to : trans- 
lations, compared with such originals, are like shadows compared 
with substances, and like unanimated, compared with animated 
nature. Do let Abraham learn Latin immediately : he may go on 
with his French at the same time. The store of learning is no 
burden. There are many changes in life : he may possibly be put 
to his shifts in future life, and be glad to get his bread by his wits, 
like his grandfather. When stripped of all, the Latin scholar can 
say : ' Omnia mea mecum porto/ I hope that my first- 
born grandson will be permitted to cultivate that literary knowledge, 
which, when kept in due subordination, is an useful ornament in 
society. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to his Wife. 

" Clonmel, 24th of Seventh Month, 1786. 
"I think I can say, in truth, I feel an increase of 



tenderness, and a disposition to do every thing in my power to make 
thy last days easy and comfortable. Thou hast been dedicated, in 
soul and spirit, body and substance. The prime of thy days has 
been devoted to the promotion of the noblest cause ; and the affairs 
of this life, in which thou wast honourably engaged, were transacted 
in due subordination, and with reference to the great and principal 
object, the glory of thy Creator ; therefore, in great mercy, thou art 
released from a principal part of this world's cumber, and the desire 
of my heart is oftentimes for thee, that thy spirit may be visited 
with the rich, the blessed infusion of heavenly joy. And I am glad, 
as we advance to old age, to feel an increase of pure desire for thy 
present happy tranquillity ; and a renewal of that love which first 
cemented our spirits together, and was the original motive to that 
union, which has, I trust by Divine appointment, long ago taken 
place between us ; an union which, I believe, has been blessed 

and sanctified 

" I trust you at home are all under the gracious care and protec- 
tion of kind Providence 

"R. S." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 185 

R. S. to his Daughter Sarah. 

" Clomnel, Seventh Month, 1786. 

" You are all very dear to me. I rejoice in the hope of 

your taking root in the Divine soil. The Great Husbandman sees 
and knows all his plants, and the different species of them, and what 
kind of ground is best for each. We may observe some trees thrive 
best in a deep and rich, and others in a light and sandy soil. Some 
love a dry, and others a marshy bed ; nay, there are some which 
grow, as it were, out of the very rocks, where there is no depth of 
earth, and flourish amain : so that hardness itself, if rightly endured, 
(i. e. patiently endured,) is not always unfavourable to religious 
growth. If it be of Divine appointment, it is good ; for whatever 
He ordereth is good, and in season: but if our own misconduct, 
disobedience, or indolence, has caused our hearts to grow callous 
and unfeeling, I know nothing we poor creatures can do to help our 
selves. We must patiently wait till He, without whom we can do 
nothing, is pleased to raise a will and desire in us to seek judg- 
ment ; and having happily found it, let us dwell under the corrosive 
operation of it, till it performs a radical cure. Then light and life, 
and a good day, is again experienced, and an increase of holy fear 
and care not to offend again : for if there be a frequent repetition 
of faults, the spiritual delicacy and sensibility will gradually wear 
off; estrangedness from the power and virtue of Truth will ensue, 
the relish, even for angels' food, will be lost, and the spiritual con- 
stitution will be totally changed. 

" In this mixed state of existence, my dear S., we are liable to 
many temptations and fluctuations. Eetiredness of spirit, simplicity, 
and obedience, are all we have for it : if this be kept to on our parts, 
we may be assured that He, with whom we have to do, will not be 
wanting on his part. His gracious design is to do us good, to bless 
us, and make us happy here and hereafter : He is willing to enter 
into an everlasting covenant with us. He will assuredly perform 
his part ; but if the conditions of the obligation be not also per- 
formed on ours, the covenant is annulled, and anxiety, distress, and 
a tribulated path through life, will be our portion, instead of that 
placid serenity and holy joy, which often attend the minds of those 
who faithfully do their duty, though amid the cares, and cumbers, 
and troubles, which must and will, at all events, fall to our lot 
here. 

"R. S." 



186 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

E. S. TO HIS DAUGHTER MARY. 

" Ballitore, 11th of Eighth Month, 1786. 

" We are much favoured, my dear children, by the 

countenance, kindness, and friendship of many worthy friends ; and 
I believe we are all sensible that it is not by any merit of ours, but 
purely through Infinite Mercy, that we have been so preserved as to 
have the precious unity of the living members of the church. Should 
any of us slide off the foundation of conviction and religious feeling ; 
should any of us be caught by the dazzling splendour of the world, 
or any of its sides, whether the riches, the fame, or the friendship 
of it ; should any of us, in our hearts, turn back into Egypt, that 
precious unity is immediately lost, the rights and privileges of the 
saints are forfeited, spiritual debility and decay ensue 

R. S. to M. Watson. 

"Ballitore, 5th of Ninth Month, 1786. 

" My dear Friend, 

" I by no means forget that our epistolary intercourse stands at 
my door, I have thee often in my thoughts. I remember the very 
short space of time that I had with thee last under my roof, and 
that it was not quite to my satisfaction. I hardly ever think when 
thou leaves my house that I have entertained thee as I wished, I 
mean that I have not had a satiety of that communication with 
thee, which does the spirit good. Times and seasons not being in 
our control, personal interviews are sometimes neither so pleasing nor 
profitable as visits which are reciprocally paid in spirit, when the 
bodies are absent from each other. Nevertheless, I have experienced a 
singular gratification in conversing with thee, and hope for a renewal 
of such opportunities. I know no better way for us, in order to 
answer the just Witness in all, than to lose our own wills in the un- 
fathomable will of our Creator, which is indeed a great deep. Let 
us be resignedly and submissively content, not only to be any thing 
which He would have us to be, but also to be as nothing in the 
sight of ourselves and of others ; remembering that it is God which 
worketh in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure, as saith 
the apostle, and proceeds, ' That ye may be blameless and harmless, 
the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and per- 
verse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding 
forth the word of life/ I find thou and my dear friend, E. P., were 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 187 

companions at Youghal, that season has been spoken well of ; may 
we be enabled, dear friend, to live in our respective solitary little 
dwellings, so feelingly retired, learning of the Husband at home, as 
that we may experience a growth in good, and in a capacity to do 
good : if we thus live and learn, diligently reading in the book of 
spiritual knowledge, we shall witness that ' Day unto day uttereth 
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge/ we shall know an 
improvement in things appertaining to the Divine life. And par- 
ticularly if any have been exercised in public labour in a religious 
line, if any have apprehended themselves influenced to speak in the 
sacred name, it would be well for such, as much as possible, (espe- 
cially while yet in a growing, not full-grown state,) to avoid mixing 
in company immediately after ; but rather hasten home, and there 
consult the ' Husband at home/ whether he be pleased or not. It 
is an indubitable truth, that it is good to be faithful, and that wilful 
disobedience causes a long wilderness, but yet reverential fear, as 
well as love of their Master, is becoming in his servants, and there 
is a diffidence, as well as a confidence, which is acceptable to Him ; 
the Searcher of hearts knows every secret thought that lodges there, 
and the latent springs of action, and repugnance to action in us, and 
we do not find that he disapproved of the conduct of Gideon, when 
he repeatedly, though reverently and resignedly, requested proofs of 
his mission. 

" R S." 

E. S. to his Daughter Mary. 

Then on a visit at the house of Samuel Neale, who was 
dangerously ill. 

" Ballitore, 6th of Tenth Month, 1786. 

" When thou hast opportunity, present S. N. with thy mother's 
and my dear love. He was our early and intimate friend, we often 
took sweet counsel together ; our acquaintance was first formed, not 
in a slight, superficial manner, but in the deeps, where the Lord 
works, and where his wonders are seen ; and it has been increased 
and strengthened through successive stages of life, by many a 
cementing, humbling baptism. He has not only been our own near 
and dear friend, but the friend, and as it were the father of our 
children, to whom we know his love has flowed in a strong current, 
to their great advantage and comfort. So that we, to whom the 
welfare of our children is so dear, we, who have no greater joy than 



188 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

to see them walk in the Truth, as they advance in years and expe- 
rience, to be sensible that the Lord Almighty is preparing them for, 
and engaging them in, his actual service ; we, surely, must highly 
prize such a friend, and be nearly interested in his present trying 
situation. However, we know in whose hand he is ; that Hand 
which rescued him from the jaws of destruction, which led him, and 
fed him, and preserved him in heights and in depths, which raised 
him a signal monument of his mercies ; and having brought him 
through many temptations and tribulations, qualified and commis- 
sioned him to tell others what the Lord had done for his soul : 
this Hand, though it might be permitted that his natural heart and 
flesh should fail, is all-sufficient to uphold, sustain, and comfort the 
spirit, and conduct it safely and happily into the mansion prepared 
for it. But we cherish a hope that it is consistent with Infinite 
Wisdom to prolong his stay awhile, among his near connexions and 
the militant church, which, if it be the Lord's will we earnestly 
desire. We charge thee with our very affectionate regards to the 
dear and worthy companion of our patient friend : her sufferings and 

anxiety on his account must be great 

" E. S." 

E. S. to Eichard Jacob. 

" Ballitore, 9th of First Month, 1787. 

" My dear Eichard, 

At present there is cause for much gratitude on 



account of the day of prosperity, which we are now favoured with ; 
by and by no doubt comes, in the revolution of the seasons, a day of 
adversity, equally good and profitable for us. May we all, my dear 
friend, so improve the merciful visitations of heavenly regard and 
notice, that whether the north or the south wind blow upon our 
o-ardens, the Lord's plantation in us may flourish and bring forth 
fruits, to the praise of the good and gracious Husbandman ! I am 
persuaded that his fatherly intention is to do good to your father's 
house, and to make it useful and honourable to and among his 
people, but many, very many, are the dangers and temptations from 
within and from without, which await ; the necessary cares of this 
life, and the pursuit of things lawful, from the purest and noblest 
motives, if carried to an improper excess, may clog the feet of the 
inward man, and prevent his running with alacrity the race, which 
by Divine appointment is set before him ; the seeking great things, 
the aspiring after this world's grandeur, the imitating and emulating 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 189 

others who are not devoted in body, soul, spirit and substance, to 
the Cause of Truth, hurts the tender plant of renown, and retards 
its growth. But to be diligent in the spirit of our minds, often culti- 
vating seasons of retirement, watching daily and hourly unto prayer 
for preservation from evil, and Divine acceptance, witnessing from 
time to time that baptism which cleanses from all defilement of flesh 
and spirit, doing nothing which we are persuaded in the secret of 
our own minds is wrong, and being faithful to every manifestation 
of active duty ; this, I believe, is the way to draw down the blessing 
of heaven upon us, and to perpetuate it among us. 

" Farewell, my dear Richard, and believe me, 

" Very affectionately thine, 

"K. S." 

R. S. to . 



" Ballitore, 16th of First Month, 1787. 

" Dear Friend, 
" I think I am not very forward in communicating my sentiments 
after this manner to my friends, and I hope I may very freely take 
this liberty with thee. I would be sorry to discourage my younger 
brethren in religious Society from making little verbal offerings in 
our meetings of discipline, I do not like to see them always sit as 
neuter, indifferent, and unconcerned hearers of what is going on : I 
believe if more sat as they ought in these meetings, watching and 
waiting, and feeling after the arising of good in their own minds, 
there would be more who would have to utter a few words accom- 
panied with life, and adding solemnity to our solemn assemblies. 

Here, my dear , is the point. Life is the crown, but words 

without life, like the letter, kill and wound the life, and so spread 
death and darkness, instead of life and light. It is true, that in the 
transactions of discipline, some affairs may be of a civil and external 
nature ; but even in speaking to these affairs (which are more or less 
connected with the Cause of Truth) our speaking should be coupled 
with religious fear, such weight and such humility should be the 
covering of our spirits, that it would be manifest to the sensible part 
of the auditory that we had been with Jesus, — that we had not been 
sitting lightly and superficially listening to what passes in debate, 
but that while our outward ear was open, our inward ear was also 
open, and occupied in hearing what the Spirit said unto the churches. 
Thy good sense will suggest to thee that, in making these remarks, 
I may probably allude to thy repeated offerings at our last Quarterly 



190 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

Meeting in . The matter of them I do not perfectly remember, 

but the manner I acknowledge gave me pain ; I thought there was 
not the depth, the simplicity, the self-abasement, which I wish thee 
to possess, in order to evidence thy own growing in the root of reli- 
gion, and the desirable prospect of thy becoming an useful ornament 
in our poor Society. We want, my dear friend, not fine speakers 
and orators, but baptized and baptizing members in our church, and 
such I wish thee and thy dear wife to be, that in child-like sim- 
plicity and unreserved dedication, ye may follow on to know the 
Lord in his humbling operations in your own hearts, and in fitting 

and qualifying you for true essential service in his house 

" I am, dear , thy truly affectionate friend, 

a R. S." 

R. S. to Abiah Darby. 

" Ballitore, 30th of First Month, 1787. 
"Dear and honoured Friend, 

" Thy very kind favour of 11th instant came to hand, and was 
and is truly acceptable, it was almost more than I expected ; for 
though I had no reason to doubt of thy continued friendship, I knew 
that the increase of years and debility render the expression of it, 
sometimes, a kind of heavy task and burden. I am, therefore, the 
more obliged by thy condescension and kindness. I had heard of 
thy having been indisposed, thy letter therefore was particularly 
welcome ; for though it made no mention of health, its appearance 
indicated that thou wast of thy better fashion in that respect, and the 
contents afforded comfortable hope of thy continuing to be favoured 
with a lively feeling mind. May we happily experience this blessing 
of preservation, as the natural strength decays ; for surely we have 
more and more occasion to wait for and feel after inward consolation, 
as outward helps fail, and to seek for fresh vigour and refreshment 
to our minds as our bodies wax old and decay. Natural things, 
indeed, wax old and wear away, because they have only a temporary 
supply, but the spirits of the just being invigorated and replenished 
from a Source which is eternal, puts on daily fresh strength and ability 
to walk and act acceptably, although the flesh decline, and hasten 
to its original dust. Moses and Joshua, being leaders of the people, 
are instructive emblems in this case, and the garments of the true 
Israelites not wearing out, is a lively type of the newness of life, 
which is absolutely necessary to be the covering of the spirits of the 
Lord's people and children I saw our friends, Mary 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 191 

Ridgway and Jane Watson lately, and had opportunity of conveying 
thy salutation to them ; be pleased to accept of their kind greetings 
in return. They were both tolerably well, are often going about, 
doing good, and communicating of such as they have ; indeed, in 
the present poor estate of the church, it seems the likeliest way for 
certain individuals to get sustenance for themselves : for it is said, 
f He that hath pity on the poor, lendeth unto the Lord ; and that 
which he hath given will He pay him again/ 

" I remain with true esteem, 

" Thy affectionate friend, 

" R. S." 

R. S. to Richard Jacob. 

"Mountmellick, 5th of Fourth Month, 1787. 
" My dear Richard, 

Ye have heard no doubt of our dear friend, Joseph 



Williams, having uncovered his head, his anointed head, in the reli- 
gious assemblies in Dublin. My heart was glad when I heard it ; 
and the desire of my spirit is that many more may, in all humility 
and prostration of self, wait in the deeps, each keeping to their own 
peculiar exercise, till they receive qualification and ability to bring 
up their several stones of memorial, living stones, polished and fitted 
in the depths from which they are brought. 

" I have seen many sweet and promising blossoms, fair and 
fragrant, from which delicious fruits might have been expected in 
due season, — many hopeful youths of both sexes, whom the Lord has 
been graciously pleased to visit and to open an eye in them to see the 
beauty and excellence which is in the Truth, and to view this world 
as it really is ; but there has not been a following on to know the 
Lord in progressive stages of advancement, — there has not been a 
sufficiently diligent waiting for the re-baptizing which purges and 
makes clean from all defilement of flesh and spirit, nor for the re- 
anointing which keeps the internal eye open and clear to see things 
natural, and things spiritual in the proper light ; so there is a 
dwindling, a decaying, and a dwarfishness in stature, a deficiency in 
measure and weight, and the vacant seats of the princes and nobles, 
removed from works to rewards, are not effectually filled up ; thus 
defect and weakness have overspread, the dignity of the church is 
lowered, and her authority, which stands in the life and in the 
power of Truth, is greatly diminished. If ye are persuaded that 
these things are so, my dear Richard, do thou and some of thy near 



192 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

connexions look about you and see whereabouts you are ; let not the 
cares of this life supersede your interested concern in those things 
which relate to a better state that is to come. "While ye are com- 
mendably and moderately diligent in outward business, be diligent 
and fervent in spirit, serving the Lord and his cause with your best 
in your generation. 

" Above all things feel after the dew of Heaven, and as much 
of the fatness of the earth as is suitable for you, will be added. Let 
the pure Truth, and its heavenly wisdom, circumscribe your desires 
and designs in all things ; you will find its government and direction 
most profitable, both as to the life which now is, and that which is 
to come. 

" Thy truly affectionate, 

" R. S." 

R. S. to James Abell. 

" Caroo, 15th of Fourth Month, 1787. 

" My dear James, 

" ! to have a little pure gold in one's own trea- 
sury, though it be ever so little ; a little morsel of living bread in 
one's own house, though it be ever so small a pittance ! Those 
who are so favoured are not like people amazed, and at their wit's 
end, when trouble, the lot of human condition, comes upon them ; 
they have something substantial to have recourse to ; they receive 
all dispensations allotted them as from a paternal Hand, which they 

are submissively assured does all things right and well I 

love to see our dear youth lively and sanguine and feeling in their 
affections to faithful Friends, not cool, distant, and indiscriminate 
in their regards ; I hate hardness and hnpenetrableness, I never 
see any good come of it. And, now, my dear friend, what shall I 
say ? Thou hast engaged in the active warfare ; learn to be a good 
soldier, and obey the word of command. Don't be shrinking and 
skulking behind other people's backs, so exceedingly delicate and 
saving of own self, but be willing, like David, the Lord's anointed, 
to become yet more vile, and like him to assume the appearance, 
form, and manners of one called to officiate about holy things. 
Let the sword of the great Prophet hew in pieces every species of 
false delicacy before the Lord. 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 193 



R. S. to his Daughter G- 



" Ballitore, 9th of Seventh Month, 1787. 

"I am pleased that has at last got into our 

right honourable row. I wish him and his wife the best comfort in 
domestic life. Thou canst tell them, my dear Margaret, from thy 
own experience, that, though the conjugal state abounds in many 
endearing gratifications, it has its own perplexities and disquietudes 
— that there is but one sovereign, unmixed good, which is essentially 
necessary to sanctify the union, to sweeten the attendant cares, and 

cause real and substantial happiness. I wish our dear friend 

may get strength from her elementary dip, and that her spirit may 
be often helped to get into the sacred pool, when the angel of the 
Divine presence shall have moved upon the waters 

" I note what thou say est respecting the stagnation of life among 
you. I know not when I witnessed more of that stupid, torpid state, 
than in our meetings yesterday : there seemed neither wind nor tide, 
but a dead calm ; however, if the ship be in order, the good Pilot 
kept on board, and his will be submitted to, no danger will accrue. 
The wind will rise again when it listeth, the vessel will make its 
way ; and when patience hath had its perfect work, all will be well. 

R. S to L. S. 

"Brookfield, 14th of Tenth Month, 1787. 

[R. S. was at that time joined with several Friends, on a religious 
visit to meetings in the province of Ulster.] 

" Those who go on these errands had need, indeed, to 

be wise as serpents— harmless as doves. They had need know their 
own spirits kept under proper discipline, who discipline others: they 
had need to put on Christ ; his holy, humble, patient nature should 
be their clothing. Well, my dear Lydia, after all, it is a cause 
worth contending for. However we be employed in this world, we 
must, in a little time, certainly leave it. If in this life we shall 
have been favoured with being sensible of the spirit and power of 
Christianity, and qualified to bear witness of it to others, in such 
manner as the great Author of it shall have been pleased to appoint, 
whether by word and doctrine, life and conversation, or all together 
— then we shall not have lived in vain : we shall have answered the 
most noble purposes of life, and not have been as the beasts that 

o 



194 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

perish, that eat, drink, and sleep, grovel for a stated time on the 
earth, then lie down and die, and their memorial decays with their 
bodies. Not so thy illustrious ancestors, my dear child. They stood 
before princes, and advocated the cause of Christ before the great 
men of the earth ; they thought it no shame, but their great honour, 
to be persecuted and imprisoned for the testimony of Jesus. They 
despised that shame and false delicacy, which was for saving self, aud 
the honour and reputation, and estimation of self ; they made a 
sacrifice of all, a whole burnt offering, unto the Lord their God ; 
they chose rather to suffer affliction with his people, than to enjoy 
the transient, unsubstantial pleasures of sin for a season ; they 
patiently bore the cross, and, doubtless, now wear the crown which 
fadeth not away, as all earthly grandeur does. Let my dear cousin 
Mary Mellor read this. I love her, and the numerous good qualities 
which she is possessed of. I wish her to join thee hand in hand, 
that ye may go up together to the house of the Lord, (the place 
where his honour dwells,) rejoicing in feeling the approbation of 
Heaven to your spirits, and cemented in a spiritual as well as 

natural union 

" And now, my very dear Lydia, farewell. May thou and thy 
husband be graciously continued objects of Divine regard and help, 
prays, 

" Your truly affectionate father, 

" R. S." 

R. S. to his Daughter G . 



"Birr, 4th of Eleventh Month, 1787. 

" My present engagement is attending our dear friend, 

M. D., desiring for her that she may be rightly guided, in that line 
which the Great Master wills ; endeavouring to make way for the 
performance of this service, and saying Amen, when I am able. 
S., dear S., does her part. To be going about visiting prisons, like 
Howard, is a gloomy, uncomfortable task ; but it is a necessary and 
honourable employment. Indeed, those who will be truly service- 
able in the Church of Christ, in their day, must witness a state of 
very deep self-abasement — must be willing to appear vile in their 
own eyes, and in the eyes of others : all must labour long and hard, 
and be content with bare subsistence, without looking for any other 
reward 

"It is a trite complaint, to say things are low. They are indeed ; 
but still, if each of us take care of ourselves, if we be diligent in 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 195 

waiting, and faithful in obeying, I believe, through merciful con- 
descension, our souls will live, and we shall be acceptable in the 
sight of our great Lord and Master ; which is the perfection of our 
natures, and the end of our being. So, my dear Margaret, be thou 
encouraged ; let the zeal of the Lord's house more and more absorb 
thee, and be resigned and devoted to serve the Lord in thy genera- 
tion, with thy body, soul and spirit, which are all his, and over which 
he has a right to an absolute control. I thank him reverently in 
spirit, that he has allotted thee a husband who loves the Truth in his 
heart, and whose joy and delight it would be to see thee rightly and 
conspicuously concerned in the promotion thereof. Thou hast also 
a sweet flock of children, graciously preserved and continued to thee; 
thou hast many dear, select, and choice friends, whose spiritual 
fellowship helps to nourish thy hidden life ; thou hast the means of 
a comfortable outward subsistence : all these great favours call for 
a rendering something, — and this something must be nothing less 
than all. 

« R. S." 

R. S. to M. Watson. 

"Ballitore, 22nd of Eleventh Month, 1787. 
" My dear Friend, 

" I have been looking into the account current of the correspond- 
ence between thee and me, and I do not find but that I had the 
last word with thee in this way. 1 believe I thought it was other- 
wise, when being long from home lately, I often remembered some 
of thy last expressions to me, which implied a request that I would 
write to thee while abroad. 1 remembered, but I could not well com- 
pass to comply ; close travelling, and exercise of mind and body, 
rendered it in a manner impracticable. I believe those who were 
appointed to the service of visiting the meetings of discipline, what- 
ever qualification they might want beside, went forth under a deep 
sense of their own impotence and comparatively small measure of 
religious experience : I believed also, that they were helped along 
by a little of Best Help, enabled from season to season, to act for 
the Master, and on behalf of his church, with some degree of accept- 
ance and propriety, and preserved from doing much harm. 

" Our ministers, I hope, ministered of the ability for the time 
being afforded, and were often as a flame of fire, kindling that sacri- 
fice in prepared spirits, which the Lord Almighty does in nowise 
despise: the other servants were pretty careful, I trust, not to 

o 2 



196 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

launch out of their proper depth, so we went on harmoniously, and 
very cordially, finding a very kind, personal reception among our 
friends, and have cause to think, that though honestly and plainly 
dealt with, they were pleased and well satisfied with the visit. 
For my part, my chief labour seemed to be a deep, inward, silent 
travail of spirit, for the promotion of pure and genuine Christianity 
among men. I thought, and think it, great pity that a religion, 
which the Son of God himself, in the fulness of time, and at the 
close of all previous dispensations, came down to establish on earthy 
a religion which he introduced into the world, in order that man- 
kind might thereby be made happy here and hereafter ; a religion 
which he taught by precept and example, confirmed by miracles, 
and sealed with his precious blood, shed under most excruciating 
tortures — I say, I think it great pity and great abomination, that 
the profession of this pure and holy religion, should, like other pro- 
fessions in civil life, be made a paltry trade of, and subservient to 
the purposes of avarice, pride, and vain-glory. My soul is also at 
times sorrowful that that holy flame, rekindled by Divine Power in 
the hearts of our predecessors of the last century, after a seeming 
extinction for many ages, should now burn so faintly and dimly, and 
appear to be in danger of going out again among us. May I solemnly 
say, God forbid ! for, indeed, he alone can forbid and prevent ; and 
may we, my dear friend, individually watch and be sober, watch 
and take heed to ourselves, lest we should at any time be entrapped, 
and enter into the temptations of an insidious adversary, practising 
on the remains of corruption in us ; be sober, solid and deep in our 
dwelling, that we may be preserved from being intoxicated at any 
time with the fumes of our own imagination ; but being religiously 
temperate and clear, may be favoured to see our several lots and 
services ; to step quietly into them, and having done or suffered 
according to the Divine will, to the best of our understanding, may 
refer ourselves, and the whole of our conduct to Him that sees and 
judges rightly. 

" K S." 

E. S. to S. R. G . 



" Ballitore, 1st of First Month, 1788. 
" My dear Friend and Cousin, 
" By a letter my husband received from thee, confirming what we 
heard of the awful undertaking thou hast before thee, # (which, 
* A visit to those professing Friends' principles in France. 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 197 

though now no secret, I doubt not has long been so in thy breast,) 
I thought it would be but kind in me to let thee know that I have 
felt sympathy with thee on that account, as being different from 
other services in these days ; but the way thou hadst concluded to 
move in it, appears to me as the counsel of best Wisdom. I may 
say, that thy faithfulness and devotion of soul, in this and other 
services, has at times done me good, and cheered my poor and often- 
afflicted spirit ; for what greater comfort can there be, than to see 
and feel that a succession of testimony-bearers to the everlasting, 
unchangeable Truth, is raising up amongst those who are in the 
prime of life, willing to go forth under their Lord's banner, and 
in their Lord's armour ; not with carnal weapons — not with the 
wisdom, parts, or acquirements, that any may be furnished with as 
men and creatures, unless they be sanctified ; but with the weapons 
of his Spirit, which, when humbly depended - upon, are mighty to 
the pulling down of the strong-holds that sin and Satan hath built 
up in the hearts of many. 

" I am, with much affection, 

" Thy true and faithful friend, 

" E. S." 

R. S. to Mary Dudley. 

" Ballitore, 4th of First Month, 1788. 

" I am in debt to many dear and precious correspondents, who 
have favoured me with their letters, I think I am not indebted in 
that way to thee : and yet I seem to want to salute thee, my dear 
friend, and to visit thee indisposed and confined to thy chamber 
(sick and in prison) thou seemest from these circumstances of thy 
situation, and from the obligation of permanent friendship to be 
entitled to a visit of this sort, even before my beloved M. But 
should I be deficient in this outward visible sign (which yet I think 
would not be right,) I trust thou wouldst at some seasons feel that 
I had by no means forgot thee : thou hast divers friends here who do 
not receive the accounts of thy sufferings with unconcern and indif- 
ference, but are deeply interested on thy behalf. But such is the 
lot of human nature in general, and such is the lot of the followers 
and disciples of Christ, these events are common to all ; wide, how- 
ever, is the difference between the righteous and the wicked in this 
respect, those know the chastisements of a paternal hand, acknow- 
ledge the evil as well as the good to be administered from the same 
source in Infinite Wisdom, and witness all to be sanctified for their 



198 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

use, and themselves in body, soul, and spirit to be sanctified to the 
Lord and his use ; but these, when affliction comes upon them, have 
nothing to lay hold on, they stagger and are at their wit's end ; if 
the rod be for a while suspended, yet Divine displeasure remains as 
long as unrepented guilt remains, and when the cup of life is ex- 
hausted, the dregs of sin and all its horrors will be found at the 
bottom, unless washed away by timely and sincere repentance. 

" R. S ." 

R. S. to S. R. G . 



" Ballitore, 9th of First Month, 1788. 

....." Henry Wilkins's removal seems a loss indeed to reli- 
gious society. He had weight and experience, and I believe many 
good qualities and qualifications. But these events are common, to 
be expected, and to be borne with patient resignation by the sur^ 
vivors, as being the dispensations of Him who doeth all things well. 
The capital grievance, the stinging sorrow is, when any of the Lord's 
visited children, young or old, fall away from their stedfastness, bring 
discredit upon themselves, and upon the reputation of the spotless 
Truth : this is what I earnestly deprecate for myself, and for my 
beloved friends ; for we are no longer safe than while we watch unto 
prayer. He who tempted the Master, be sure, will not scruple to 
attack the servant, in whatever dignified station he may be. As 
to thee, beloved cousin, I seem hardly allowed to touch upon the 
subject of the new, the arduous, the awful service before thee. I 
must leave it to thy own deep feelings ; and as thou dwellest in the 
deeps, and keepest upon the sure ground of the revelation of the 
Spirit, I have no doubt but that thou wilt be rightly conducted. I 
believe such prospects of duty, when indubitably right, are not 
always clear to the party concerned: clouds often intercept the view, 
and the sun himself suffers an eclipse ; the key of David locks up, 
as well as unlocks the holy vision ; but as the patience of the saints 
is exercised, as the will of the creature is lost in the will of the 
Creator, and as there is an abiding in humility, simplicity, and sin- 
gleness of heart, there is no danger but the great Shepherd will lead 
in and out, and provide pasture, immediate sustenance, and pro- 
vender for the service. 

" R. S." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 199 

R. S. TO E. PlM. 

" Ballitore, 7 th of Second Month, 1788. 
" My dear Friend, 

" It is, indeed, a trial of faith and love, and pure 

obedience, but if on trying the fleece wet and dry ; if on consulting 
again and again the Divine oracle of the revelation of the Spirit, 
they believe it their duty to go on this errand, I see no cause for 
them to be discouraged. If it be of the Lord he will stand by his 
own work, and make way, and room for the progress of it ; his 
miraculous, healing, strengthening power is the same that ever it 
was ; and he can sustain and supply his weak instruments as effec- 
tually in this day, as he did in the days of our forefathers, or in the 
days of the first publishers of the same gospel. And this gospel also 
is as precious and glorious as ever it was ; dignifying beyond all tem- 
poral honour, those that are engaged in the promotion of it. How 
grateful it is to the purified spirit to be made the channel of communi- 
cating good, from the living Source of all good, to any ! What a holy 
comfortable savour is left on the instrument of conveyance ! And 
yet there is such a backwardness and unwillingness in many, — such a 
pleading of unfitness for any little service, — and such a want of atten- 
tion and industry to seek and knock, and ask of Him, who is liberal 
in the distribution of His gifts and graces, that useful labourers 
are in number but like the gleaning of the vintage, or two or three 
berries on the outmost fruitful branches of the tree. I am pleased 
that thou wast visited by thy particular friends on thy admission 
there ; I wish thee to be often visited by the Master, whose reward 
is with him, as his work is before him ; he comes not empty handed, 
and whether he brings the balm of consolation, or a whip of small 
cords, to drive all that is improper out of his temple, still his coming 
is for good, and he is in all humility to be received in the way of 
his coming. 

"R. S." 

R. S. to his Daughter G . 



" Ballitore, 9th of Second Month, 1788. 

" The last report concerning our beloved friend E. Pike 

was rather favourable ; so that we hope that worthy member of the 
church militant will continue awhile longer in the warfare, ere 
she be gathered to the church triumphant, the just of all genera- 
tions. It is a fine thing, a great favour that you had such kind 



200 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

friends, such attentive nurses, such spiritual mothers, to assist and 
comfort you in your various distresses. It is likely some of them 
will soon be taken from your heads, and carried (I hope by the 
Spirit) into places which they know not. The great Head of the 
church knows his own wise purposes ; whom, and whither, and 
when to send forth, and whom to retain and employ in the long- 
cultivated vineyard. May he be with them that go, and them that 
stay ; for all have equal need of his help, both for their own preser- 
vation, and renewed qualification for his service. May gracious 
Providence strengthen in body, and in the spirit of the mind, that 
his will may be done in, by and through his servants ; that so the 
Great Name may be more and more honoured, the knowledge of 
the Truth extended, and the right way and worship spread among 
mankind. 

"R. S." 

R. S. to Abiah Darby. 

" Ballitore, Uth of Second Month, 1788. 
" I always think myself peculiarly favoured when I receive a few 
lines from my dear and much respected friend, Abiah Darby, and I 
am ready to upbraid myself when much time passes before I make 
some sort of reply. I am greatly obliged to thee in thy advanced 
stage of life, and under the pressure of consequent bodily infirmities, 
for sending me these pledges of thy affectionate remembrance ; and I 
greatly desire as I also advance in years, and may expect accumu- 
lated weakness of body and mind, that I may be mercifully preserved, 
so walking blameless, so filling up my relative duties, as that I may 
happily witness the continuance of the precious unity of my beloved 
friends. Religious fellowship, the unity of the brethren, is indeed 
pleasant and strengthening, but unless we keep the unity of the 
Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, that spiritual intercourse with one 
another will die away, having lost that which was its source and 
supply. Many indeed are the dangers which await us, and great 
and manifold is the mystery of ungodliness, but the grace which 
was sufficient for the great apostle remains to be sufficient for each 
of us, in our several trials, temptations and buffetings. May we 
feel after its holy influence, submit to its operation, and show forth 
the efficacy of it in our lives and conversation, and in all our de- 
meanour, then shall we be preachers of righteousness indeed, mag- 
nifyers of the inward law, and spreaders and promoters of genuine 
Christianity among men ; such, when a gift for the edification of 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 201 

others, in a more public line, is superadded and committed to their 
trust, have been, are, and will be of great service in the Great 

Master's hand Annexed to thy lines, I received a few 

from my dear friend and cousin, Deborah Darby. I was glad that 
she and her dear companion had returned, in peace and safety, from 
their expedition. I trust by these faithful excursions they will 
know an accumulation of spoil, and an increase of spiritual sub- 
stance ; so that they will be rich in good works, ready to communi- 
cate to the many poor starvelings that are amongst us A 

few months ago I joined several of my betters (by appointment 
of our Half-year's Meeting) in a visit to the sundry meetings of 
discipline in this nation. Through Divine condescension, help was 
administered every way, and the visit, I believe, rendered accept- 
able, and in some degree profitable. Thus, though we complain of 
low times and too general a declension, yet when there is a going 
forth in devotedness and simplicity, there is often experienced a 
returning with approbation and encouragement to renewed dedication 
and obedience 

"Our dear afflicted friend, Anna Taverner, still continues in 
this place, is often much indisposed, yet on the whole has borne this 
winter better than usual, and we cherish a hope that it may prove 
consistent with the Divine will yet to restore her to an ordinary 
share of health and the walks of civil and social life, from which she 
has been a long time secluded. She is still the same sweet-spirited 
sensible friend, and lively, edifying companion 

" Farewell, my dear friend, may thy last days be thy best and 
happiest, and the purest sweets be found by thee at the bottom of 
the cup of life. 

" I am, with sincere esteem and regard, 

" Thy truly affectionate friend, 

" R S." 

R. S. to John Thorpe. 

" Ballitore, 2Uh of Third Month, 1788. 

" I think, notwithstanding that there exists too much cause for 
the language of complaint respecting the degeneracy and depravity 
of the times, that abundance of pains is taken in our religious 
Society, by the going to and fro' of gospel ministers, publishing the 
way of life and salvation ; and by the laborious, arduous conflict 
maintained with transgressors, in the support of our salutary disci- 
pline : I trust that He who sitteth in the heavens looks graciously 



202 MEMOIES OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

down, and beholds with approbation these well-meant efforts of a rem- 
nant in the cause of Christ, and the promotion and spreading of his 
reign and government on the earth. So that I wish there may not 
be in any a heart of unbelief, nor a dwelling too much on a view of 
the gloomy side of things ; but rather that there may be a steady 
looking to Him who is omnipotent, and an exercising and cultivat- 
ing each the particular gift allotted, according to the present ability, 
and in the will and time of the great Giver. 

"lam desirous for thee, my dear friend, that thou mayst look 
upward, from whence hath come, cometh, and will come thy help. 
If I am not radically mistaken, thou hast received, thou hast been 
honoured with a beautiful gift : may way be made for thee to ex- 
ercise it to the honour of the holy Head, and to the edification of 
the body, in as diffuse a manner and degree as the Master willeth, 
and the church needeth. For my part, I think it is awful to be en- 
trusted with supernatural talents, given for the edification of others. 
If ever so usefully occupied, what is the trustee but an unprofitable 
servant ? but if the occupation and improvement even of the one 
pound, be neglected, displeasure is incurred, and loss and shame 
follow. So that I wish us to be watchful and careful, that we may 
not fall into temptation of any kind ; but that our hands may be 
free and skilful to build the Lord's house, our feet unfettered and 
ready to run on his errands, and our hearts replete with the joyful 
answer, of ' well done, good and faithful servant/ 



R. S. to his Daughter G- 



" Ballitore, 22nd of Seventh Month, 1788. 

" We were pleased with being at the Province Meeting 

at Wicklow : it was small, but I think mercifully favoured. My 
spirit was much dipped in secret travail, and I was satisfied, as I 

could feel and cry A few of us were appointed to join 

on the family- visit in that quarter. I hope I may say we were helped 

through that service I have heard of our beloved E. Pirn's 

speaking in meeting. I was glad that I was enabled, since I heard 
it, repeatedly and renewedly to petition for her. I do not find ability 
at present to write to her : I believe she is in my debt in that way. 
I do not press her, but when she has a little to spare, I hope she 

will remember the poor I hope some of us are favoured 

with hearts of flesh, spiritual flesh, which is nourished and strength- 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 203 

ened by the communication of glad tidings of great joy, and which 
is also pained and distressed with the afflictions of the gospel. 

" E. &." 

E. S. to Mary Dudley. 

" Ballitore, 6th of Ninth Month, 1788. 

" My dear Friend, 

" I am by no means satisfied with myself, but I am 

delighted with the prospect of my earnest, solicitous importunate 
petitions being answered, — that if I should never be of any material 
service in religious society, that I might but be preserved, thrown by 
in any obscure corner so as not in Divine displeasure, and that the 
visited rising generation, might be a generation to serve the Lord 
God of their forefathers in their day, and to lift up the ensign of 
his Truth among the nations. I salute thee, my dear friend, re- 
turned from that unfrequented, uncultivated field of labour, in which 
thou hast been employed.* Thy dedication, thy sacrifice, was noble, 
and I trust has been acceptable. Thy debility and infirmities of 
body as well as of mind, are perfectly known to Him with whom we 
have to do, and He estimates in His just balance, the measure of our 
devotedness and obedience. May He reward thine with the blessing 
of preservation, and if such be His will, may an increase of ability, 
both natural and spiritual, be experienced by thee, that so thy 
beautiful gift may be fully and forcibly exercised to the praise and 
honour of the Great Giver, who has done so great things for thee, 
to the edification of the churches, and to the gathering of the other 
sheep to the fold of Christ ! Our beloved E. P. is, (it may well be 
imagined,) much in my thoughts ; I trust she is of the weighty, 
ponderous grain, which every ruffling, whiffling wind will not agitate ; 
the perturbation of her mind from various causes, has no doubt been 
great, and the nailing to the cross, attended with agonizing pangs : 
but thou canst tell her that by continuance in faithfulness and 
obedience, the pain to the natural part will decrease, and courage 
and confidence abound, so that as the apostle says of the daughters 
of Abraham and Sarah, she will ' do well/ and ' not be afraid with 

any amazement/ "We had the company of dear Mary 

Eidgway and Jane Watson here for a few days Mary 

was rather poorly in health, but mended in spirits, and lively in the 

* The visit to France and Germany, performed by M. D., S. R. Grubb, 



204 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

exercise of her gift ; she is faithful, so she is happy, and though 

wave succeeds wave, she emerges clean, clear, and bright 

Farewell, my dear friend, 

" R. S." 

R. S. to S. R. G -. 



"Ballitore, 11th of Ninth Month, 1788. 

"I congratulate thee and thy husband on your return 

in safety to poor Ireland, and make no doubt but that you ex- 
perience at home that peaceful serenity of mind, which follows a 
faithful discharge of duty. It was a trying, arduous service which 
you were engaged in ; and to have been effectually helped through, 
is cause of grateful commemoration of favours past, as well as of 
humble trust and confidence in the same sufficient help, to abilitate, 
to answer the requirements of the present and a future day. You 
are now among the natural, native branches of the family ; you are 
not only members of it, but appointed stewards, and , overseers of 
the household. Your lot is also cast in a place where are many 
hopeful plants, wholly I believe of a right seed, which seem on the 
way of growing to be trees of righteousness, that will bring forth 
precious fruit in their season. I need not remind you what pecu- 
liar necessity there is for such as are thus circumstanced, often to go 
deep down for instruction and fresh qualification, to behave aright 
in the church of Christ. Many matters occasionally fall out, which 
call for the exercise of wisdom and understanding superior to that 
of the natural man, and it requires a constant, close sitting and 
dwelling at the Fountain-head of pure intelligence, in order to be 
ready and furnished to speak and act with propriety and acceptance, 
in cases of a solemn, weighty, and spiritual nature. You have mine 
and my wife's warm wishes for your increasing in good, and in a 
capacity to promote that Cause, which is dignified by Heaven, and 
dignifies all those who are so honoured as to be dedicated and con- 
secrated to its service I can see no cause for discouragement 

any way, with respect to opening the school. The motives I believe 
were pure, disinterested, noble ; the object nothing less than the 
glory of the Creator, and the radical, essential good of his creatures ; 
and yet difficulties and embarrassments may attend the commence- 
ment of the undertaking. The institution, laudable as it is, may 
be sown in tears ; and the conductors of it may expect to go through 
good report and evil report, as deceivers, and yet true. Thy thoughts 
being low, and thy expectations not sanguine about this matter, I 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 205 

look on as a good symptom, promising stability and duration. A 
bright, glaring morning, is often a prelude to a rainy day. For my 
part, I do, from my heart, wish this seminary of civil and religious 

education the best speed 

" To the Shepherd of Israel, the bishop of souls, I heartily and 
tenderly commend you all ; and joined by my wife and children in 
a salutation of love to you and our beloved friends and kinsfolk 
there, remain very affectionately thine, 

" ft. S/ J 

E. S. to her Daughter G . 



"Ballitore, 26th of Ninth Month, 1788. 
" My dear Daughter Margaret, 

" I intended to have acknowledged the receipt of thy very kind, 
intelligent letter, the two last days ; but the continual interruptions 
I meet with, joined with my inability divers ways, render it difficult 
for me to write at all as I could wish ; for it would be pleasant to 

me to converse with thee in this way, if I could I am 

often helpless, in a great degree, in body and mind ; at the same 
time admiring the kindness of my Preserver, from my youth to this 
day, in doing so much for me and mine, and in affording at times a 
little help, to keep in a degree of quiet resignation to bear what is 
permitted to fall to my lot, in a spiritual or temporal sense, and 
which is a particular favour, the feeling my own worthlessness, 
poverty, and entire inability of myself to do any good thing. It 
must be that the reviving of ancient goodness in our Society, and 
the dear children giving way to the leadings of the pure Spirit of 
Truth, bearing the cross, and despising the shame, cannot but cause 
such as have any life left in them, to rejoice, and, as it were, with 
trembling, beg for their preservation, that so the cunning device of 
the enemy of poor mortals, may be seen in the light of the Lord, and 
they enabled to escape his snares ; if the mind be preserved in rooted 
humility, sincerity, and faithful devotion of soul, to obey Him, who, 
with His dependent followers, ever had the victory, then will joy and 
gladness possess the souls of those, who have no greater joy than to 
see truth and righteousness flourish in the earth, and a succession of 
testimony-bearers raised up 

" You seem to be rich in faithful labourers, therefore you had all 
need to be faithful, and not strive to live on the labours of others. 
Our poor child S. I wish may not meet with any thing to hurt her : 
she has long been a steady, exemplary young woman. I know 



206 MEMOIKS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

it mnst have been very hard to her to appear in a public testimony ; 
but whatever she finds it her duty to put her hand to, I wish she 
may not be discouraged from doing with all her might, and like 
Gideon, go forth in a sense of her own weakness. We also heard of 
dear A. T/s amendment in health, and appearing in a more public 
way than usual. 

" E. S." 

R. S. to James Abell. 

" Ballitore, 8th of Tenth Month, 1788. 
"My dear James, 

" The injunction which holds good to all generations 

is, ' Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments : which 
if a man do, he shall live in them ; ' and without this faithfulness 
and obedience, we may be compassing a mountain all our life long, 
and die in the wilderness at last. I am persuaded, however, that this 
is not the gracious will and design of Heaven respecting His visited 
family ; but that the members of it, being fed and clothed by the 
great Master, should honestly and diligently perform the work 
assigned to them, and to have their meat in due season, and grow 
strong for labour in the business of the day, not murmuring nor 
repining, nor fretting ; but humbly and gratefully receiving, and 
willingly and cheerfully imparting, according to Divine direction. 

"E.S." 

R. S. to S. R. G . 



"Ballitore, 9th of Tenth Month, 1778. 

" My better half bids me remember her very affec- 
tionately to thee, and to tell thee she thinks thou didst very well 
in coming to our Province Meeting, that she had near unity with 
thy services, and wishes thee to stand dedicated and devoted to 
answer every manifestation of duty, whether of greater, or, seem- 
ingly, smaller degree. ' Use strength and have strength/ is, in my 
opinion, a wise saying. I believe many gifted servants have suf- 
fered loss by overlooking things as small, too diminutive for persons 
of their growth and stature to stoop to ; thinking that they will 
leave them to others who are younger, or of an inferior order : thus 
their inward man loses its agility and activity, its flesh becomes 
callous, and its sinews become hard. Continue, therefore, my very 
dear friend, cheerfully to submit to all kinds of labour, which the 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 207 

Master may put thee to. Labour is wholesome, and procures sweet 
bread 

" R. S. v 

R. S. to his Daughter G . 



" Ballitore, 9th of Eleventh Month, 1788. 

" Thou wilt probably, from some one or other, have 

had some account of our National Meeting:. We had neither T. G. 
nor S. N. there. T. G. has returned home from his visit to some 
parts of Great Britain, and I understand purposed to have been at 
the meeting, but for the critical situation that his daughter H. was 
in. I suppose want of bodily strength, not want of inclination, 
prevented our dear friend S. N. from attending. However, other 
servants, and what is best of all, the Master himself was there, 
baptizing spirits into a deep travail for the promotion of Christianity 
upon earth, and furnishing prepared instruments to labour in the 
love and in the authority of the gospel. Even our own dear S. lifted 
up her voice in the public concluding meeting of worship. ' Open 
thy doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars/ Both 
then, and at several private meetings at Dublin, her effusions were, 
I believe, accompanied with Divine life, and acceptable to the living 
who were present. Indeed, my heart has been made glad in the 
house of prayer, and my spirit has waded in the deeps, on behalf of 
the visited youth of this generation : the desire and petition of my 
soul has been, that nothing might be permitted to hurt them, nor 
mar the work of formation in and upon them ; but that they may 
go forward, and increase in the excellency of dignity, and the ex- 
cellency of power ; that so, by and through them, under Divine 
protection and direction, the continued backsliding of a degenerate 
people, may in a good measure be stopped, and the Lord may be 
graciously pleased to return to the many thousands of Israel. 

" B. S." 

B. S. to E. Pim. 

" Ballitore, 24th of Eleventh Month, 1788. 
" My dear Friend, 

(<< He sent them two and two before his face/ But 

while each disciple has his own path to walk in, and his own 
peculiar exercise to undergo, each has his or her own peculiar 
baptism to be baptised with, and will do well to be straitened within 



208 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

the limits allotted by the Spirit, till it be accomplished. By this 
means experience in good, and a growth in qualification is attained, 
not one looking to, and depending on another, but each receiving 
instruction and ability from the Head, is able to counsel and lend 
a hand of help to his fellow, and thus there is not only a pleasant, 
but a profitable union, and the common cause is forwarded by it. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to his Daughter G . 



"Ballitore, 24th of Twelfth Month, 1788. 
" My dear Margaret, 

" The last of thy precious letters, which has come to my know- 
ledge, is of the 11th instant to thy mother. I returned the 15th 
from Mountmellick, having been invited to accompany M. R. and 
J. W. and the Friends appointed to perform a family visit to the 
Friends in that Monthly Meeting. I did not think well to refuse, 
so attended them till the visit was completed. I trust a degree of 
best help was administered, and that no harm was done. The 
women held out stoutly every way. The business, I hope, may be 
said to have been well done ; but my expectations of consequent 
good fruit are not sanguine. However, the gospel must be preached, 
the seed sown and watered, and a patient travail of spirit exercised, 
that the Lord of the harvest may be graciously pleased, in his own 

time, to add the increase How is our dear friend M. D. 

now ? Why, there is a fine host gone to Cork. It was noble of 
cousin S. R. G. and her sister, to venture there :* such exemplary 
devotion and unreserved dedication will, I trust, accumulate large 
treasures for them in heaven, let the success turn out as it will on 
earth. The other worthies too, that embarked on the pacific ocean, 
in the glorious cause of the promotion of peace, will, I doubt not, 
have their blessed reward. 

" Thou wilt, I know, like to be informed how our dear S. goes on. 
She has several times lifted up her voice in our public religious assem- 
blies, audibly, feelingly, and tenderly. In our afternoon meeting, 
21st instant, she kneeled down, and in a very intelligible, yet very 
affecting manner, poured forth a solemn supplication to the great 
Lord of heaven and earth. It was a time of true solemnity. My 
poor spirit was at that instant wading in the deeps, and her lively 
offering no way interrupted, but assisted my laborious travail. 

* This alludes to a visit which S. R. G. paid to the families of Friends 
at Cork. 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 209 

When she has been faithful, she is cheerful, comfortable, and happy 
in herself; and, indeed, I believe this is generally the case with 
her: her even, steady, humble conduct, manifests the placid tenor 
and composure of her mind. I have never yet spoken to her between 
ourselves on this important subject : I leave her to Him who, I 
believe, has called and put her forth. But frequent and fervent 
have been my desires on her account ; and not on her's only, but 
for others, to whom I am nearly united, both by nature and grace, 
that you may do valiantly in your day, not looking about for little, 
mean subterfuges, and pitiful evasions for self, but be willing to 
lose this selfish life, that so you may find that life which is hid with 
Christ in God. 

" This is a day of revolting and backsliding — a day in which a 
vaunting, defying spirit, has too much prevailed, and Israel, those 
who are truly the Lord's people, have been discomfited and dis- 
couraged. If those who have received gifts from on high, and have 
in every respect been distinguished by peculiar favours, both spiritual 
and temporal, will pusillanimously slink back, or ungratefully refuse 
to comply with the clear requisitions of duty, surely great will be their 
condemnation. But I hope better things of divers of you : that 
you will, in the first place, take diligent heed to yourselves, and then, 
as with the heart of one man, advance under Divine direction and 
protection against the common enemy. So be it, saith thy tenderly 
affectionate father. 

" How is our dear E. P. ? If I do not mistake, I had the last 
word with her in this way. Assure her of my dear love. Her letters 
are always particularly acceptable to me ; but I would not have her 
be uneasy about writing or not writing to me : may she mind well 
the work before her ! and that is enough for me. Her preservation 
and her progress in the heavenly pilgrimage, is the object of my 
solicitous desire. 

" B. S." 



CHAPTER VI. 



LETTERS — THE ILLNESS AND DECEASE OF RICHARD SHACKLETON — DEATH OF 
ELIZABETH SHACKLETON. 



R. S. to his Daughter G- 



" Ballitore, 21** of First Month, 1789. 

" My mind is often humbled in deep thankfulness, on 

account of divers of you, my beloved children, who are not only 
preserved to walk in the truth, but called to bear testimony to it ; 
and my earnest and affectionate desire is, that you may be faithful 
and obedient to the clear manifestations of duty, and of the Divine 
requirings. This is what will render you comfortable and happy in 
yourselves, and be as a Goshen to you in the midst of Egyptian dark- 
ness : you will have light, cheering light, in your dwellings. But the 
contrary has a contrary effect : instead of the conscious answer of 
'well done, good and faithful servant/ there will be a fearful looking 
for of judgment, Divine favour will be withdrawn, and the spirit 
left solitary in a dry pit : nay, even the lawful gratifications of 
this life will lose their relish, the cup will be embittered, the cross 
occurrences which fall out will cut with a keener edge, and the hurts 
and wounds made by them will be in danger of rankling and fester- 
ing, instead of being presently healed. So may we all be mercifully 
preserved, a family, a field, which the Lord hath blessed, and will 
graciously delight to bless. A little time, and all will be over with 
us here : eternity and its prospects should be the object of our con- 
templation, and have all their due weight and influence with us. I 
sent thy message of love to our friend E. Pike. That wise lady's 
answer was : ' We accept thy daughter GrubFs love : she seems as 
a piece of myself Is not this multum in parvo ? 

" R. S." 

E. S. to James Abell. 

" Ballitore, 10th of Third Month, 1789. 
" My dear James, 

"I often think of you in that city, (Cork,) and at 

times, in my measure, suffer with you. May the faithful be pre- 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 211 

served faithful to the end ! Remember the woe to those, who take 
counsel, but not of the Lord, and that cover with a covering, but 
not of his Spirit. Therefore may ye be enabled to put on Christ, 
and to be covered with his meek, passive, long forbearing Spirit, 
which in the end shall have the victory. No weapon that is formed 
against it shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against it 
in judgment, it shall condemn, ' This is the heritage of the servants 
of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord/ 

"R. S." 

R. S. to M. Watson. 

" Ballitore, 11th of Third Month, 1789. 

" It is not that I apprehend myself any way furnished 

for a communication of this kind, beyond the course of ordinary con- 
versation, that I sit down to address my beloved friend, but I had a 
mind to keep our correspondence from gathering rust by lying by, 
and to rub, if not brighten, my end of the chain. Thy dear sister 
S. W., very opportunely handed me thy last letter. Like an old 
fashioned Friend, she made it a point to attend the Monthly Meet- 
ing, and aiming directly and honestly at it, was not disappointed in 
her intention, as some others were. I think we should be cautious 
lest we get into a habit of making dispensing clauses for our own 
convenience, remembering that the magistrate is not above the law, 
but the law above the magistrate ; and that precedents set by autho- 
rity will undoubtedly have their influence, and be often occasionally 
quoted. Let us be fair and candid practitioners in our own court of 
conscience, and we shall not be novices, but learned adepts in the 
law of the Spirit. It was very pleasing to us here to find that dear 

, though the years of her pilgrimage have been as yet few 

and evil, is mercifully helped through one indisposition after another, 
like wave succeeding wave. No doubt the dispensations allotted to 
the dear child, are in Infinite Wisdom, a cup tempered with bitters, 
salutary both for her and her anxious mother, a rod uplifted for 
the purpose of keeping low and humble, and in the eligible state of 
chastened children. May all that has passed, things present and 
yet to come, work together, my dear friend, for thy establishment, in 
good, and for the reducing, refining and preparing thee to fill with 
propriety and acceptance, the station appointed for thee, by Divine 
Providence, in civil and religious life. Mayst thou ever be willing 
to be any thing or nothing in His hand, doing and suffering, acting 
and refraining, not according to thy own, but according to the will 

p 2 



212 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

of the Great Master. Then, no doubt, being thus trained and dis- 
ciplined, thou wilt, in thy movements, feel the favour and solid 
approbation of the Head of the church to thy spirit, and thou wilt 
quietly and patiently leave all the rest to His ordering. 

" R S." 

R. S. to his Wife. 

" Waterford, 19th of Fifth Month, 1789. 

" It is thirty-five years, this day, since a former beloved 

companion was translated from earth to heaven. The loss was 
grievous, and the outward prospect melancholy ; but the great 
Controller of events, in the plenitude of his goodness, was pleased to 
make up that loss to me and mine, and to brighten that gloomy 
aspect of things, by adding thee, his precious gift, to my family. In 
thee we have found a wife, a mother, a daughter, a superintendent, 
a counsellor, helper and friend ; and I trust we are all thankfully 
sensible of the favour. I do seem at times as if home was not to be 
my constant place of residence, and as if the comforts of domestic 
life were folded up ; so that I apprehend, at times, it is best for me 
to leave home, and be in the way of witnessing that some religious 
service goes forward. On these occasions I have ever found thee 
willing to encourage, release, expedite, and accommodate me to the 

best of thy power, which I gratefully acknowledge Thy 

children will, I doubt not, care for thee now in the decline of life ; 
and I trust Almighty help and favour will be near for thy comfort 
and support. Remember me affectionately to our dear S. A petition 
was begot in my heart for her this day in meeting, that she may be 
preserved in the training of Infinite Wisdom, and grow to be useful 
in the church of Christ, according to the extent of the designation 
of her gracious Master, whose she is, and whom I believe she serves 
acceptably. If she finds in her heart to write me a line, it will, 
doubtless, be acceptable ; but I would not have her to be uneasy if 
she does not, for I shall not be uneasy on that account. I wish her 
never to give to others that which is only for herself, nor to keep 
unprofitably and detrimentally to herself, what may be given to her 
for others. If it will be any encouragement or satisfaction to her, I 
can freely say I have near unity with her sweet effusions, and her 
deportment and conduct preaches loudly, I wish I could say effec- 
tually, to me. 

" K S." 



memoirs of richard shackleton. ^3 

From the Same to the Same. 

" Hubberstone, 23rd of Fifth Month, 1789. 

" Now, my beloved companion and dearest friend, for thy satis- 
faction I may inform thee, that I have been quite satisfied in my 
mind with this excursion, which I have ventured to take, not 
rashly, but as seekingly and as feelingly as I well could ; and I 
hope Divine Mercy has cleared the way for it, and will be near to 
preserve and support every way. 

" Along with innumerable favours heaped on my unworthy head, 
I am, I trust, thoroughly sensible of my own manifold weaknesses 
and insufficiency ; and this sense, renewed and confirmed to me from 
time to time, is cause of deep thankfulness to me ; for I love the low, 
and tender, and helpless state, in myself and others. This is what 
the eye of blessed regard is graciously towards ; this is the field 
which the Lord hath blessed and will bless. While I write thus, 
thou and our beloved S. are particularly in my thoughts, and I 
crave the help of your spirits, and your intercession on my behalf. 
I hope our beloved child is in sound health of body and mind ; that 
she goes on, in public and private life, in simplicity and godly 
sincerity. 

" The believer, the true believer, whose hope and confidence is in 
the fresh supplies of everlasting strength, maketh not haste, but 
patiently waiteth for the former and the latter rain : the former to 
fructify, and bring to maturity the heavenly harvest ; the latter to 
replenish and reward the fruitful soil, and prepare for another crop. 

" R. S." 

E. S. to his Daughter G . 



"Ballitore, 27th of Sixth Month, 1789, 

U I am glad thy honest Samuel was so well pleased 

with his excursion [the Yearly Meeting in London] ; he seemed 
to enjoy it. Thou mentionest his apparent increase of flesh : I 
trust he has also witnessed an increase of spirit in the course of his 
tour, by the opportunities of instruction and observation which he 
has had. We sometimes grow, I believe, and do not know that we 
grow ; as we may decline, and not be immediately sensible of it, — so 
it is said of Samson : ' He wist not that the Lord was departed from 
him/ Thy husband is possessed of that humility, simplicity, and 
integrity, which will not fail of making way for him ; and as he 
diligently cultivates a renewal of inward strength, by frequent re- 



214 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHAOKLETON. 

tirement, I doubt not his becoming, in time, a father in the church, 
as he is much a father in his own family. I am pleased to find he 
got well home. His brother Robert and his suite getting home the 
same day, made it, as cousin S. said, like running a race. I wish 
you all to run legitimately, without emulation or justling, and all to 
receive the prize. 

" This Clonmel is a wonderful place ; it is an awful thing to live 
in it. There is such an assemblage of choice spirits, and such a 
necessity of each one being a good example to the others, lest any 
should improperly indulge themselves in another person's liberty. 
But, if it were even Paradise itself, so long as it is on earth, Satan 
will contrive to get into it, and, if possible, will defeat, deform, and 
defile ; so let us watch and be sober. 

" E. S." 

R. S. to E. Pim. 

" Ballitore, 28th of Sixth Month, 1789. 
" My dear Friend, 

" If we faithfully do, according to the ability received, 

what appears to be our duty, though it may appear to ourselves and 
to others a very little thing, we shall not want encouragement and 
help to go forward. A little pure gold is far more valuable than a 
great deal of base metal. So I wish thee, beloved friend, to be 
strengthened and encouraged, and to love the littleness, and not 
think the day of small things long. Thou hast, I believe under 
right direction, put thy hand to the gospel plough, neither look 
back, nor too far before thee, nor about thee at the spaciousness of 
the field of labour, but just turn up the furrow thou art for the 
time engaged in, according to the present skill and ability afforded ; 
' Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might/ the 
present might ; and may the Lord Almighty bless and prosper, and 
increase that might, to the edification of the church, and to thy own 
solid peace. I had some agreeable, feeling conversation with dear 

, who seemed inwardly strengthened and supported under this 

fresh trial which she met with on her return home, from about three 
months' labour in her Master's service. Let us mark the economy 
of Divine Providence, and his dealing with his faithful servants : 
those that leave all for the gospel's sake, shall receive the 'hundred 
fold' (it is said) now in this time, ' but with persecutions ; ' there 
must be the necessary alloy in this world, but, ' in the world to 
come, eternal life.' 

"R. S. v 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 215 

R. S. to James Abell. 

"Ballitore, 29th of Sixth Month, 1789. 
" My dear James, 

" After tossing and hurrying about I am at length settled in niy 
old hole, have put on my every day clothes, and sat down to con- 
verse with an old friend The Yearly Meeting being the 

great representative of our religious Society, is always the scene of 
deep travail to my wading spirit, and though I am seldom much 
heard there, my spirit intercedes for a blessing upon and success to 
the labours of others. I had some part in writing business, and 
had renewed cause for the exercise of patience. 

" For the surgeon's knife to cut away an excrescence, or some 
part that has no life or feeling, is well, and not only tolerable but 

desirable, but it gives pain to cut the sound flesh It is 

hard to weld together the religious sentiments of different persons, so 
as to make one fair simple, united mass. I have observed that if we 
mix together two kinds of liquor, though each of them separately be 

very clear, yet the mixture has a muddy appearance 

Remember us affectionately to and , my heart yearns after 

those young people, tbat they may follow on to know the Lord in 
the progress of his manifestations to them ; and being faithful and 
obedient to every clear discovery of duty, whether great or small, 
whether public or private, may grow strong in the Lord and in the 
power of his might. By faithfulness in matters comparatively small, 
accumulated strength and encouragement accrues. Clean hearts and 
clean hands give boldness and confidence. ' Thy servant slew both 
the lion and the bear ; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be 
as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God/ 

"R S." 

R. S. to M. Watson. 

"Ballitore, 18th of Seventh Month, 1789. 
" My dear Friend, 

"I wish you (thee and thy dear sister) not only plea- 
sure, but profit in one another's society, and the way to witness this 
is, I believe ye well know, while conversing together to feel after 
the inward and spiritual Life, if haply it may arise, and season and 
sanctify your communication. Like the two disciples, who were 
going to Emmaus, communing on the way and sad, to whose com- 
pany Jesus joined himself, opened the book of revelation, informed 



216 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

their understanding, tarried with them, blessed and brake bread, 
and gave to them. May this be your experience, my dear friends. 
And I am persuaded, ye are both peculiar objects of merciful regard 
and heavenly notice, and believe that as ye resign yourselves in all 
humility and devotedness of spirit, to do and to suffer the Lord's 
will respecting you, that his good presence will continue to accom- 
pany you in heights and in depths, in present and future dispen- 
sations, as it has in the past ; preparing and fitting and qualifying 
you more and more, and strengthening and enabling you to go 
down to the very bottom, and as it were to explore and fathom the 
' depths of Satan/ and from thence to arise in clearness and bright- 
ness as the disciples and servants of Him, who ' descended first into 
the lower parts of the earth/ and afterwards ascended in dominion 
and glory. 

"R. S." 

R. S. to S. R. G . 



" Ballitore, 22nd of Eighth Month, 1789, 

" My dear Cousin, 

" I have been writing to some great folk, and dispatched my yearly 
epistle to thy mother. I now turn to one of the little ones, whom I 
am glad to be enabled to salute with renewed affection, and to whom 
I would, with all willingness, hand more than a cup of cold water in 
the name of a disciple, if I had it to give. We are, very empha- 
tically, called Friends ; and friends we should be to one another, 
not sparing friendly advice and reproof, and taking a willing over- 
sight of one another, as keepers of one another, and so profitably 
conjoined in harmonious labour. If then we should not withhold 
reproof and correction in proper season, why should we withhold 
encouragement, and the expression of strengthening unity? If I 
have any thing to write to thee at this time, my dear friend, it is in 
this line — the line of encouragement to hold on thy way. Con- 
tinue in the littleness of self, and thou wilt continue to witness 
an enlargedness in the service of thy great Master. And be not 
w T eary of well-doing : consider whose cause it is which thou art 
engaged in, of infinite importance and consequence ; and how much 
depends on every one who is sent on any expedition, or who has any 
part to maintain, faithfully and firmly discharging their duty. To 
give way in a little, is to weaken in the general ; but every one 
doing his own part, the whole is strengthened, and the work com- 
pletely and uniformly carried on 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 217 

cc We have recent intelligence of the sudden decease of our dear 
friend, William Rathbone, of Liverpool. He is a loss in number 
and in weight, of the living members of the church. I believe he 
was an honest, faithful, diligent, sensible, useful friend, and leaves 

a considerable chasm in that quarter Our dear friends, 

M. R. and Co. are, it is like, rolling now on the vast ocean. Though 
the winds roar, and the billows toss, yet may their devoted minds be 
kept calm, in sweet, serene composure. 

" Farewell, my beloved friend : mayst thou take deeper and 
deeper root in humility, and in the experience of the Divine life, 
for thy own preservation and nourishment, the more thou advancest 
in religious stature, and spreadest wide thy fruit-bearing branches. 
Remember me affectionately to thy honest husband. I am glad that 
thou art joined to one who will encourage, make way for, and help 
thee in every respect. The whole plantation at Suir Island, trees, 
saplings, and underwood, have all my warm wishes for their growth 
and prosperity. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to Mary Dudley. 

" Ballitore, 1st of Ninth Month, 1789. 
" My dear Friend, 

" I am glad that thou art raised again on thy feet after 



thy late trial, and I trust thy head is lifted up above the waters of 
distress and despondency, which sometimes overwhelm like a flood. 
Why it hath pleased all-wise Providence that thy outward and 
inward frame should be of such delicate texture, and that thou 
shouldst so often be brought low in body and mind, afflicted and 
pained beyond many others, is among the secret things, which it 
belongs not to us to investigate, but no doubt, He, whose thou art, 
by creation and adoption, knows that such a conduct towards thee is 
necessary for thee altogether, for thy preservation, establishment, 
purification, refinement, humiliation and preparation for an increase 
and further fruitfulness of spirit. As was said to the mother of 
our Lord, the begotten of the Father, ' Yea a sword shall pierce 
through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be 
revealed/ So it is requisite for those, whose souls are impregnated 
and made prolific by the Divine Spirit, repeatedly to witness that 
Sword, that Word, that fiery law to do its office, that so the vessel 
may be made clean, and kept clean, fit to contain and to transmit in 
unadulterated purity the precious odours, and sweet incense, which 



218 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

it may be honoured to convey. And the more simple and single, 
and weak and foolish, and the less of the creaturely will and wisdom 
any have about them, the greater will be the excellence of the power. 
Being sensible of this, I am not for exalting the creature, and dearly 
loving my friends, I would be exceeding sorrowful to hurt them, but 
without doing either, I hope I may just say that I feel earnestly 
concerned for thy stedfastness and solid happiness, not only on 
account of the friendship and intimacy which subsist between us, 
but in a peculiar manner for the sake of that holy thing, that talent, 
which the Author of every good and perfect gift has seen meet to 
dispense to thee, for the edification of his church, and the comfort 
and encouragement of the faithful among his people. May it con- 
tinue to increase in beauty and lustre, brightened by frequent use, 
preserving undiminished its intrinsic value and currency ! And I 
not only hope and desire, but I believe my beloved friend, that this 
will be the case with thee, and that He who loved, called, and chose 
thee out of the world, will be ever near to help and support thee, 
and that thou wilt now and everlastingly experience that ' having 
loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the 
end/ 

" I am, my dear friend, ever affectionately thine, 

" R. S." 

R. S. to M. Watson. 

" Ballitore, 8th of Twelfth Month, 1789. 

" My dear Friend, 

u Iam indebted to thee for a few lines subjoined to a letter of 

S '% I have also to acknowledge thy affectionate remembrance 

of 24th ult. These salutations, be assured are very grateful and 
acceptable to me and very desirable ; but were there, from some 
cause or other, a stagnation of such an intercourse, yet I trust there 
would be no decay of vital friendship between us, because I trust, 
and hope that a gracious and merciful Providence will condescend to 
keep and preserve us near the Source, which feeds and supplies reli- 
gious fellowship. I know and thou knowest there may be an over- 
doing in the writing, as well as in the speaking way, there may be 
a bringing too much stuff, but if we go feelingly along, if we mind 
the openings and shuttings of the Spirit, the locking and the unlock- 
ing of the key of David, there will neither be the lavishing nor 
withholding, which tendeth to poverty. Industry and frugality are, 
under the Divine blessing, the ordinary means of becoming rich, and 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 219 

able to administer to the necessities of others. A wise householder 
hath a treasury, a store-room, in which he lays by what is not for 
present use ; it is safely locked up, and he brings out of it what is 
necessary in due season, as occasion requires ; such a wise house- 
holder, I would have thee, beloved friend, to be, and such I trust 
thou art. Mayst thou increase in wisdom and stature in the hea- 
venly gift, still taking proportion ably deep root downwards, as thou 
shoots upward, and still giving the glory and consecrating the gain 
of all to Him, who alone is the Author of every good and perfect 
gift, and who though infinite in loving-kindness and mercy, yet is 
ever jealous of his own honour, and will not allow his servants 
ostentatiously to deck and adorn themselves with his jewels. 

" R. S. v 

R. S. to S. R. G . 



" Ballitore, 16th of Twelfth Month, 1789. 

" When we prescribe for such as thou art, we must also 

take in the mind, which often affects, and is affected by the organs 
of the body. Be an obedient child. Now a child does not reason 
a great deal, nor puzzle itself with the consideration of probable 
consequences ; its duty and its praise are, simply to do as it is bid. 
This is acceptable to the great Father of the family, in heaven and 
on earth ; this is uniting in the chorus, in the blessed harmony ; this 
is not interrupting, confusing, or retarding the great work of ' glory 
to God, and good- will to men/ but it is promoting and forwarding 
it, according to the Divine will. ' The stars in their courses fought 
against Sisera ; and of whatever degree in the heavenly host, my 
beloved friend, thou mayst esteem thyself to be, (and I am sure I 
care not how little that is in thine own eyes,) be thou encouraged to 
persevere in unreserved dedication of all to the cause of Christ. The 
kingdoms of this world seem in an unusual ferment ; and the bottom 
on which the false religions of it are found, is altogether slight, pre- 
carious and uncertain. Who knows how near the hour may be, when 
it shall please the Omnipotent to rend the veil which obscures the spiri- 
tual sight of mankind, and to reveal himself to the human species 
in a more general way ? saying, as at the beginning of the creation, 
' Let there be light, and there was light.' May you, who are called 
and chosen, and furnished for the Master's service, be disencum- 
bered, and ready willingly to run on his errands, with an l Here am 
I, send me ; ' diligently attending to the fresh pointings and direc- 
tions of wisdom, in the course of your service. So will the great 



220 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

and glorious work be likely to prosper in your hands, and your peace 
will run down as a river in the present life, bearing and supporting 
your spirits till you are conveyed to the ocean and fulness of ever- 
lasting peace and joy. 

" B. S." 

R. S. to his Daughter G . 



" Ballitore 5th of Second Month, 1790. 

" We are mercifully favoured here with pretty good 

health, except our sweet, dear little Peggy, who does not yet rub 
through her complaints ; but as diligent means are used for her re- 
storation, we cherish a hope it may prove consistent with the Divine 
will to bless the same. However that may be, submission and resig- 
nation are our duties. Much severer trials may yet await us, than 
the translation of the spirit of an innocent child, from a scene of 
conflict and danger, to everlasting safety and happiness. 

" I think thou art quite right in paying all proper attention to 
the facilitating thy husband's leaving home, and getting the benefit 
of solemn feasts, as well as thyself. Those who are often much 
hampered with worldly cares, are necessarily covered with the dust of 
them. They want to be often shaken from this dust, that it may not 
lie so long as to sully their garments. Turning the back to the world 
for a season, and giving up to those solemnities, I believe, are often 
attended with beneficial consequences. The women dwell more, ex 
officio, in the quiet habitation — are less exposed to the spots of "the 

world I am glad to be well assured that thy husband and 

thou earnestly seek each other's improvement in the best things, and 
are as desirous each for the opportunity of the other's spiritual ad- 
vantage, as his or her own/' 

"R S." 

R. S. to S. R. G . 



" Ballitore, 11th of Second Month, 1790. 

" My dear Cousin, 

" Thy last written communications to me, dated the 1st day of 
this year, were very acceptable. The extracts of letters received from 
France, and from our dear friend R. Jones, were a highly-pleasing 
treat ; and all this furnished at a time when thou wast wading in 
the deeps, engaged with sore conflict of mind, and wrestling for a 
mixture of condescending mercy. To think of fitting out an enter- 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 221 

tainment for me in such circumstances, was an argument of true 
friendship and true humility ; and thy increase in these two respects, 
is a particular object of my desire for thee, both for my sake and thy 
own. Well, dear friend, thou wast helped over that mountain also, 
the visit to Kinsale and the prison there. I congratulate thee there- 
upon, and expect thou wilt be still further instructed, disciplined, 
and modelled, by these further sufferings and rejoicings ; so that 
thou wilt become more and more an obedient child, ready at a beck 
to run, and do the will of thy Father who is in heaven. I was, and 
am also glad at heart, that our beloved E. P. is so completely re- 
duced and moulded — so willing to be any thing, as well as nothing. 
Well, it is certainly the most spiritually-politic way : it saves the 
poor creature a great deal of trouble, to give up at once ; not to be 
trifling and tampering about articles of capitulation, but surrender 
at the discretion of the conqueror. Salute that dear child, for my 
wife and me, with much affectionate nearness. I wrote to her in 
answer to her last. If she has any good news to tell me, I care not 
how soon she communicates it ; if the contrary, I have a heart 
willing to share in her troubles 

"How closely are even the favoured of Heaven sometimes tried, 
about the means of providing outward necessaries ! that their dili- 
gence in worldly business and their fervency of spirit may be stimu- 
lated at the same time ; that they may be stirred up to exercise an 
assiduous, prudent care in their occupations, and yet be taught that 
the fruit of their labour depends altogether on Him who alone can 

give the increase There is a want of more fathers and 

mothers amongst us, — such as seek not the sordid gain of pre- 
eminence, but who, though men of religious understanding, are 
children, as to a humble, happy, tractable disposition of mind ; such 
as are meek, compassionate, benevolent, forgiving, preferring others 
before themselves ; or, in a word, such as have put on Christ, and 
keep on them that blessed clothing. I hear with much satisfaction, 
one good report or other of some of you thereaway. I wish the 
babes and sucklings may be strengthened to do their part ; for a 
great deal depends on that class thriving, and doing their duty. To 
be mercifully preserved from material injury, in passing through the 
child's state, affords good hopes of arriving at the measure of stature 
and capacity, designed by Infinite Wisdom. I like the last commu- 
nications from France which thou sentest me. When thou hearest 
from that visited, agitated country, I doubt not thou wilt be kind 
enough to communicate 

" Desiring thy continued increase in good, and expecting to be 



222 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

favoured with a visible, manual token of thy remembrance, when a 
favourable coincidence shall fall out, with dear love to thee and 
cousin Robert, 

" I remain thy very affectionate kinsman, 

" R. S." 

R. S. to John Thorpe. 

" Ballitore, 14th of Second Month, 1790. 

"It is not a time for servants who have been trained in a holy 
discipline, fitted and prepared by various previous dispensations, in- 
structed to know the Master's will, and practised in the performance 
of it : it is not a time for such to be as idle, indifferent spectators, 
serving themselves, and neglecting the Master's business. The 
cause which the Son of God introduced upon earth, which he pro- 
mulgated by his own authority, confirmed by miracles, and sealed by 
his blood ; a cause which involves in it life and immortality, and 
every thing that is truly good in time and in eternity ; this is cer- 
tainly to be faithfully espoused, and diligently promoted among 
men, according to the ability imparted. So thought our prede- 
cessors, and left behind them a most striking example of diligence, 
fortitude, perseverance, and patience in grievous and long continued 
sufferings. They knew that the term of this life was short, and 
that what they had in commission to the people of that generation, 
was of infinite importance ; so that they lost no time in delivering 
their Lord's message, and forwarding his business with care, fidelity, 
and dispatch. c Go and do thou likewise.'' 

" I gratefully accept the salutation of my honoured friend, Sarah 
Taylor, and I also accept her excuse for not writing to me. She 
hath done what she could, (I believe) through a long life, in a far 
more noble and useful line ; and I would not begrudge her now to 
sit down and eat the fruits of her industry — to tarry at home, and 
divide, among her friends and neighbours, the precious spoil won by 
her honest services. 

"B, S." 

R. S. to his Daughter Sarah. 

"Ballimury, 14th of Fourth Month, 1790. 

"I cannot say when I shall get home. I mean to do 

all about staying and going, as well as I can ; and I have a hope 
that a way will be cast up for poor, blind me, that will be best. I 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 223 

have been hitherto mercifully and graciously helped ; and therefore, 
if I be preserved from evil, I trust the same kind hand will continue 
to support and direct. It is my principal dependence. I have 
little or no confidence in the flesh, in my own talents, abilities, or 
contrivance. 

" My poor families with you are the subjects of my deep travail, 
with earnest desires for your help, and for the interference and bless- 
ing of Heaven among, and upon you ; particularly and especially 
thy dear mother is the object of my faithful, affectionate solicitude, 
who so generously and freely gives me up, and takes care foi me at 
home and abroad. So may we be united and bound up together all 
in the spiritual relation, mercifully taken and kept under the notice, 
and forming, and direction of the heavenly hand, all children of the 
same everlasting Father and Friend. And mayst thou, my dear S., 
continue to be an example to us all, in watchfulness, innocence, sim- 
plicity, and dedication. Look not too far before thee ; take not into 
thy view and contemplation, too great a field of labour at a time, which 
may intimidate and discourage thee ; but whatever little matter thou 
findest to do, do it in the present might, — as was said to Moses, ' I 
am hath sent thee/ Then retire to thy own closet, and hearken to 
the secret intimations whispered there, endeavouring to shut out all 
the redundance of reasoning and imagination, which will be apt to 
intrude and mix there ; remembering that that which is born of the 
flesh is only flesh, and profiteth nothing there ; flesh and blood not 
being capable of entering into the spiritual kingdom. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to James Abell. 

" London, 31s* of Fifth Month, 1790. 

" My dear James, 

" I do feel a renewal of, may I venture to say sacred, 

amity with thee. Satan be sure wants to have all you young people, 
that have turned tail to him, in order that he may sift all the good 
out of you ; nay, his impudence is such, that he stands (the old 
accuser of the brethren) at the right hand of Joshua, the approved, 

the acknowledged, the experienced, dignified servant 

The Meeting on the whole I think was much favoured, more than a 
backsliding people had any right to expect ; we had a good deal of 
the pop, pop, pop, like the firing of undisciplined would-be soldiers, 
one after another, instead of the united, concordant, certain sound 
of a well-disciplined army, but there was not more, if so much of 



224 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

this evil as usual. Edmund Gurney threw out to this spirit, as a 
tub to a whale, the consideration of the weighty expression of the 
solid conclusion of our ancestors, on matters which were debated 
amongst them, viz., ' it is our sense and judgment/ &c. Ten 
thousand pounds was ordered to be raised for procuring a proper 
place, and erecting proper edifices for the holding the Yearly Men's 
and Women's Meetings. This matter having been previously 
settled by a committee, was carried through the Yearly Meeting 
with great unanimity ; a remarkable solemnity attended, it was a 
baptising season to my spirit, for some how or other, my heart is 
attached by a manifold cord, which seems to acquire every year addi- 
tional strength, to this great and most general representation of our 

religious Society I know not when we shall leave this 

city, I wait the motions of that increasingly dear friend : yet a wife 
bound to me by the strong ties of natural and spiritual affection, 
thou may think attracts me forcibly, but I cannot leave my beloved 
friend without a proper convoy ; her honesty, her simplicity, her 
fidelity, and her obedience, manifested in public and private com- 
munications here, have strengthened my attachment to her ; no ill- 
grounded shame, no false delicacy, no slavish fear, no saving of dear 
self from mortification and contempt, have prevented her, though 
of the weaker sex and of exquisite sensibility, from throwing in her 
mite into the precious treasury, accumulating for the establishment 
of Truth upon earth Thy sister and others, my parti- 
cular friends there, too many to particularize, share my lasting affec- 
tion. And now that I am come to the subject of love, I will drop 
anchor there, and bid thee, my dear James, affectionately, farewell. 

"R. S." 

R. S. to E. Pike. 

" London, 5th of Sixth Month, 1790. 

" Dear Friend, 

" It occurred to me as I lay in bed this morning, to write to thee, 
believing some account of thy friends here would not be unacceptable. 
I engaged William Taylor, on his departure, to forward a Yearly 
Meeting printed epistle to thy husband, remembering that he liked 
to have it early. There is also a written general epistle, touching 
matters more particularly relative to deficiencies in our religious 
Society, which it is likely will be sent over soon. The meeting was 
large, of both men and women, and I hope the several sittings of it 
may be said to have been favoured with a degree of good. There is 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLBTON". 225 

to be sure a light spirit too prevalent, a spirit that is easily set 
a going, swift to speak, which (it is to be feared) is not attentively 
enough learning of the Husband at home, this is often too much 
afloat. Yet a weighty, ponderous, spirit is still preserved, which helps 
much to check and keep down that which is high, and salutary 
regulations and reformations are getting forward, though slowly, 
through patient perseverance and meekness of wisdom ; the servants 
of the Lord, like their great Master, not striving nor crying in 
their own time and strength, but waiting for the time of Life, and 
for the ability which proceedeth from the Head of the church : 
hereby, by such haltings and movements, by such encampments and 
journeyings forward, our ancients made a noble stand against the 
false ways and corrupt customs which were in the world, both civil 
and religious, and were enabled to carry on a successful war, under 
the banners of the Prince of Peace. But alas ! depravity and weak- 
ness succeeded, lukewarmness and indifference crept in, and it must 
be acknowledged that we are become a lapsed people ; though it is 
not, nor ever will be, a lost Cause, for the baptising power of Truth 
is still amongst us, we are still mercifully favoured with lively 
oracles, we have still fathers and mothers, evangelists and teachers 
in the church, there are still devoted, dedicated, well- qualified in- 
struments, who are willing to run to and fro, and to jeopard their 
lives for the promotion of Christ's reign upon earth, and (thanks to 
Infinite Goodness therefor !) there is a hopeful prospect among our 
youth of a succession of testimony-bearers for Him, and faithful 
labourers in his work. This I am persuaded, dear friend, at times 
cheers thy drooping spirit in thy lonely hours of meditation and 
retirement, in which I doubt not but thou findest consolation and 
encouragement, being glad now in thy sequestration and recess, that 
in the prime of life and outward prosperity, thou gavest up to the 
heavenly vision, renounced the follies and vanities of a delusive 
and a deceitful world, which lies in wickedness and ignorance, and 
embraced the gospel of Christ, with all the tribulations and persecu- 
tions belonging thereto. Happy is it now, and happy for ever will 
it be for thee, that thou took up the cross, despised the shame, and 
joined the little flock, the companions of Christ in his sufferings, for 
surely, as thou art graciously and mercifully preserved and sustained 
to the end, thou wilt also reign with him for ever 2 

I am here detained waiting for the motion of my beloved friend, who, 
I hope, will be ready to depart the beginning of the ensuing week. I 
am only uneasy lest my dear wife should be uneasy at my stay, which 
indeed is not voluntary, nor, I humbly hope, contrary to the Divine 

Q 



226 MEMOIRS OP RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

will, perhaps I might venture to say, ordering. I have not been 
very idle here, nor am I disposed to be idle, no more than imperti- 
nently busy in affairs of religions Society. I am greatly favoured in 
seeing clearly my own comparative weakness and insufficiency, and I 
rejoice in the sense, the humiliating self- abasing sense of it, in which 

I earnestly desire ever to be preserved 

"Dear friend farewell, 

" R. S." 

R S. to S. R. G . 



On her setting out on her second visit to the Continent. 

" London, 5th of Sixth Month, 1790. 

" My dear Cousin, 

"I. P. informing me that it was necessary to send the enclosed 
letter under a cover, I thought I might as well write a few lines on 
the cover, as send it empty away, I therefore take the opportunity 
of saluting thee with my best love, and intimating to thee the con- 
tinued increase of near affection for thee. I believe that the more 
any are devoted and dedicated to the promotion of the Christian 
cause, and the more diligently they labour therein, that they feel in 
a stronger degree, not only the effectual help of the Great Master to 
their spirits, but the help of the spirits of their friends, brethren, 
and sisters. And as thou hast set such an example of unreserved 
submission to the Divine will, and obedience to the heavenly call, I 
doubt not thy being borne up through the service before thee, to 
the glory of the great Name, and the propagation of the blessed gospel 
of Christ among men. Rejoice then, my beloved friend, that thou art 
honoured with a part of the ministry ; continue to let it be as thy 
meat and drink, thy ordinary food, to do the will of Him who sent 
thee, and to accomplish thy allotted share of his work 

" I love to reside in the humble valley, and that the precious dew 
may lie upon my branch. And thus I wish you, my beloved friends, 
enlisted, accoutred, engaged, and committed in the most glorious 
Cause which ever dignified human nature ; that in the nothingness 
of self, and abasement of the creature, you may receive your fresh 
supplies of spiritual ability from the sole Source of all right religious 
qualification. And if in some places there is not an ear to hear, no 

opportunity to scatter, go forward, bearing the precious seed 

I am ashamed to take the liberty thus to write to my superiors ; but 
interpret it as the effusion of simplicity and love Do let 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 227 

us know how you get on every way. Many are deeply interested in 
your welfare, and among those, 

" Thy truly affectionate friend and kinsman, 

" R. S." 

R. S. to his Daughter G . 



" Ballitore, 8th of Seventh Month, 1790. 

" My dear Margaret, 

" I have indeed abundant and renewed cause of thankfulness to 
our Almighty Benefactor, for his gracious protection still extended, 
and his safe conduct of a very poor and helpless creature, home to 
my family and friends. I have also humbly to acknowledge the 
daily supplies every way afforded, profitable to me, for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness : thus the 
rod and the staff, administered in wisdom, alternately rectify and 
regulate, assist and comfort ; and so poor pilgrims move along under 
repeated convictions of their own infirmities and insufficiency, and 
under a renewed experience of continued mercy and Divine aid. The 
Yearly Meeting of London seems like a home or habitation to my 
spirit. I am dipped there, I trust, in some degree, into the state of 
the Christian cause, and engaged in a travail, and secret, silent 
wrestling, for a blessing on the endeavours of the faithful in this 
day, for the promotion of it : this I look upon as my principal 
business there, though a good deal of other matter, relative to church 
affairs, falls to my lot besides, and calls for diligent exertion of my 
best abilities. Upon the whole, my dear M., I do hope this most 
important Cause gains ground ; and that, though there still remains 
some fruitless, sapless trees in the wood, yet a great number of 
promising young plants have taken strong root downwards, and are 
shooting vigorously upwards. Much depends on their preservation 
from any annoyance — on their upright growth, and bearing each 
their own fruit in due season, My journey to and from London, 
and temporary stops at sundry places, as well as some few excur- 
sions in the neighbourhood of London, were generally attended 
with satisfaction to my mind. I renewed precious amity with old 
surviving friends ; and I met with opportunity of cultivating a 
pleasing and profitable intimacy with some new ones. I saw my 
friend Burke, had him awhile to myself, and admired and loved 

him afresh 

" R. S." 



q2 



228 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 



E. S. to S. R. G- 



" Carlo w, 19th of Seventh Month, 1790. 
" My beloved Cousin, 

" My wife and I, and several of us of this Monthly Meeting, 
have been engaged a little at home, in a degree of like labour as 
engages you abroad. We have been endeavouring to dress the 
garden already enclosed, the soil of which is indeed poor enough, 
and weeds enow, rooted and running to seed, in danger of dis- 
seminating their own prolific species, to the deforming of the garden 
and the annoyance of the hopeful plants. You are occupied in the 
wide and wild field, where there is abundance of rough work to be 
done, access to be gradually made, rubbish to be removed, stones to 
be gathered out, and the gospel plough and harrow to be introduced. 
I have at times been favoured to meet with you there in spirit, and 
to desire a blessing on your work. In so large a field of labour, 
your work may indeed seem small and contemptible in your own 
rational view ; but, as it is said, ' Every thing has a beginning/ be 
not discouraged ; do your part, and that is enough for you. Sow 
the seed in faith, and leave it under the blessing of the Heavenly 
Husbandman : other labourers may be sent hereafter into the field, 
in the progress of the work, with different tools and instruments, 
for further service. The present time, the present might and ability, 
diligently and rightly employed, are the most likely means for the 
business to be effectually promoted, and for the securing and estab- 
lishing your own peace, the precious penny, the inestimable reward. 
My fellow-labourers have left me here, as I am so far on my way to 
Youghall, where the Province Meeting is to begin, the 25th instant ; 
and where I expect to meet with old James Christy, and John 
Gough, and several other friends, in order to essay a beginning of 
the national visit, which has been appointed here. I understand 
J. G. has lately had an alarming paralytic stroke, which nearly 
deprived him of the use of one side for some time ; but was so far 
recovered as to be able to attend their late Quarterly Meeting near 
Charlemont, where he had very acceptable service, appearing with 
increasing brightness in his Master's cause, who, I trust, will 
strengthen him every way for this fresh service. I love to see 
people so devoted, so dedicated, so set upon promoting the cause of 
Christ 

" I hold myself much obliged, as I have been much gratified, by 
thy kind communication from Amsterdam, of the 1st instant. Con- 
tinue, my dearly beloved cousin, so to favour me ; for thou art 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 229 

precious with me, and thy preservation, and perseverance in well 
doing, are among those subjects of solicitous travail which are inter- 
woven with my best feelings Peace be to you, and peace 

to your helpers ! The Lord hath helped, doth, and will help you. 

"R. S." 

R. S. to Richard Reynolds. 

" Ballitore, 16th of Ninth Month, 1790. 

" Richard Reynolds, dear Friend, 

" I have been much from home since my return from 

England : a visit was appointed by our National Meeting to the 
Quarterly, Monthly, and particular Meetings throughout our land, 
and also to the several Select Meetings, and the families of those who 
compose them. The proposal originated, I believe, in the motion 
of Life, through our mutual friend Samuel Smith. A number of 
Friends, male and female, were separated for the service, and some 
of them entered upon it about two months ago ; the church sent some 
of the elders, and the Head of the church sent some ministers to 
join them. Our friend John Gough had been seized in the night in 
his sleep with a paralytic affection, which for a while disabled him ; 
but as, through Divine favour, he grew better in a few days, he 
exerted the degree of strength, to which he was mercifully restored, 
in proceeding on this visit ; he travelled from the north to the south 
of this nation, in company with James Christy, a respectable elder, 
about eighty-one years of age ; in the south they were joined by 
other Friends of each sex, and the service was performed to the 
province of Munster, I believe to a good degree of satisfaction. I 
thought the great Master owned the work, and afforded of his help 
for the performance of it. Indeed I believe an appointment of the 
church, under right direction, carries peculiar weight and authority 
along with it, and in the mystery conveys additional strength to 
the servants engaged in the labour. Our John Gough was much 
favoured, freshly and fully furnished and enabled every way to get 
through the service. It is now suspended, but I hope will in due 
season be renewed. Joseph Williams of Dublin also entered the 
lists, and was very serviceable in ministry and discipline. His 
bodily presence is weak and mean, but his stature in religious growth 
is like to a palm tree ; he has taken, and is taking, deep root in the 
fertile soil of humility, and he shoots upwards proportionably in use- 
ful service. If thou wast to step over here to our next Half-year's 
Meeting, I believe thou wouldst be pleased with the acquaintance of 



230 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

some choice spirits in this land, and notwithstanding thy sister, (our 
sister,) Deborah Darby's report, wouldst perhaps confess that the 

one-half was not told thee 

" Cousin Deborah may perhaps recollect an old domestic in my 
family, whose name was Nanny ; she exchanged, I believe, earth 
for heaven lately, I returned home just in time to be present at her 
interment here, 6th inst. John Gough had an acceptable testi- 
mony to bear in the grave-yard, and after him Anna Taverner 
kneeled down and put up a sweet and lively supplication. John 
was on his return homewards, and Anna was here on a visit to an 
intimate female friend of her's ; she has been acknowledged in due 
form, as well as felt in the life and power, to be a minister of the 
gospel. She has wonderfully recruited as to health and strength, so 
as to travel about, and ride single on horseback, yet is still very 
delicate in constitution. Mary Moore of Waterford, and Mary 
Watson, are abroad with certificates, visiting the meetings and 
families of Friends in divers parts of the province of Leinster. . . . 
Our families unite in the salutation of love to your families there ; 
though I do not particularize, I forget none of you. Tell Priscy 
Gurney I often think, with pleasing recollection, on the agreeable 
walks and talks which she pleasured me with, when I was last at 
the Dale. 

" I am, with renewed attachment, thy affectionate friend, 

"& S." 

R. S. to his Daughter G . 



" Ballitore, 22 nd of Eleventh Month, 1790. 

" My beloved Margaret, 

" It was very kind, in thy situation, to take the trouble of 
writing. We feel indeed for thee, and wish it were in our power to 
afford thee any relief. We have none to send thee except our 
advice, and that I believe thou hast no occasion for ; for thou 
knowest where to look for help, and who it is that can say, ' Peace, 
be still/ and the storms in the moral, as well as in the elementary 
world, obey his voice. But it is often easier to give advice than to 
take it, it is easy to recommend resignation ; but when the trial 
comes home to us, and the exquisitely tender feelings of nature are 
affected, then to say with the heart, ' Thy will be done V is to over- 
come indeed. And yet such a victory over humanity may be gained, 
and is often gained by the Lord's children, in their pilgrimage 
through this life ; and being strengthened by his love and his power, 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 231 

they can, in all humility and gratitude, kiss the rod which chastises 
them, and bless the hand, which in perfect, though unsearchable 
wisdom, both gives and takes away. Our sympathy with thee, my 
dear child, is strong, and our hope, I trust, is not of the hypocrite, 
which perisheth ; our hope is, that thou wilt, in the Lord's time, be 
raised out of those pits of distress, and having been made a witness 
of deliverance, wilt have experimentally to testify to the sufficiency 
of that arm of everlasting Power, which could deliver in such sort, 
and to encourage other travellers in the like tribulated path, to hold 

on their way 

" Thy son Abraham is in good health, through favour of Provi- 
dence ; a fine, sensible, well-disposed boy, who, I trust, will be a 
comfort and assistance to his worthy father and thee. When I 
speak of comfort, I must consequently think of our dear S. R. Gr. 
whom to have so near thee must be pleasing and strengthening. It 
is strikingly remarkable, of how singular and manifold service one 
person is, whose good natural understanding is imbued with Divine 
"Wisdom, and who, in all humility and devotedness, goes on in sim- 
plicity, doing the great Master's will. How great then must be the 
use, and how powerful the effect, when many such are combined 
together, assisting and encouraging one another, and assisted and 
encouraged by the Head of the church. So that every individual 
should look well to themselves, lest their want of coming properly 
forward should not only be to their own great loss, but to the im- 
poverishing and debilitating of the general effort for promoting the 
common Cause. I hear that account has been received of the release 

of our dear friend, William Mathews, from this warfare 

Now, my dear M. with the one heart of two parents affectionately 
solicitous for thy happy release, in due season, from every burden, 
and that all sorrows may, in the Lord's time, be changed into joy, I 
bid thee most tenderly and cordially farewell. 

"R. S." 

R. S. to S. R. G . 



" Ballitore, 27th of Eleventh Month, 1790. 

" Mr dear Cousin, 

" I often crave to be preserved from stealing, and taking the great 
Name in vain, that is, from unwarrantably and illicitly meddling 
with religious subjects ; and I hope it is under some of this awful 
covering and salutary fear, that I endeavour to keep up a corre- 
spondence of this sort, with a number of dear and intimate friends. 



232 MEMOIRS OF RTCHARD SHACKLETON. 

I consider that we liave ' gifts differing according to the grace that 
is given to us, ; — that I have, when at home, some leisure time, and 
that I find I have neither a cast, nor liking, nor capacity for many 
ordinary affairs, which occupy many people's time and talents ; they 
attend to that which pleases them, and which they understand : 
why may not I attend to that which pleases me, and in which I 
wish to improve, provided I neither hurt myself, nor any one else ? 
I know that, as good economists, we should have a store room in 
our house, in which things not wanted for present use should be 
carefully locked up ; and that frugality and industry are very neces- 
sary qualities, as the means of exercising liberality in due season. 
To be frugal, not parsimonious ; liberal, not lavish ; is what I think 
we should endeavour to learn. But why all this preface ? As I lay 
awake this morning, thou occurredst to me ; and no wonder, as thou 
art the frequent companion of my thoughts ; thou seemedst to be 
rather poor and low, like myself, and I thought I would try if I 
could converse with thee in this manner. I do not want to make a 
flourish in praise of poverty ; as some people, instead of bowing down 
under, and bearing the cross, appear to me to ride exultingiy and 
ostentatiously upon it ; but I want just to manifest, by this little 
token, my sensibility and affectionate sympathy with thee. Neither 
do I want to give thee advice on the occasion. I am not so vain 
and foolish as to think thou standest in need of my advice. Thou 
art a trained servant, and art acquainted by this time with thy 
Master's ways and manner. Thou hast, though young in years, 
been long under his holy discipline, and knowest that much exer- 
cise, conflict, and probation, is continually to be gone through, in 
order to be made ' perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works/ 
Thou hast drunk deeply of Divine consolation, and thou hast known 
a walking in the light of the Lord ; yea, thy path hath been for a 
season as the shining light. No wonder then that in turn thou 
shouldst not only be stripped of thy priestly robes, but compassed 
with the troubles and perplexities, which belong to us, as being 
flesh. I believe, indeed, that those who ascend to the greatest 
heights of the holy hill, and as instruments are made most emi- 
nently useful ; I believe that those have to descend proportionably 
into the lower parts of the earth, and have the greatest need to ex- 
perience a being buried with Christ, by baptism, into death. Such 
is the frailty and fallibility of our compound natures, that the great 
Author of them knows there is a necessity for our undergoing re- 
peated humiliations and abasement of self, that we may know and 
feel, and be made thoroughly sensible of this important, essential 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 233 

truth : that ' we are not sufficient of ourselves even to think any 
good thing, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God/ 

" It is a considerable comfort to us, that thou, my beloved cousin, 
art got home, while our dear Margaret has been so tried. She has 
lost her little John. We are in anxious expectation about her, but 
our hopes overbalance our fears. We trust that our gracious Bene- 
factor will be mercifully pleased to bring her through her dreaded 
conflict, and restore her to her family, to her friends, and to the 
church ; which stands greatly in need of well-qualified, experienced, 
devoted, active members, who have witnessed the dispensation of 

preparation for acceptable service Farewell, my beloved 

friend and cousin. 

" 29th. — This letter has been delayed ; and we have, since it was 
written, received the dad tidings that our dear M. had increased her 
family, for which I desire to be favoured with a thankful heart. By 
E. Pirn's letter, I find several of you were bound for Cork. I might 
indeed have thought of the Quarterly Meeting being to be there. 

Once more, and evermore, my dear cousin, farewell ! 

<<B. S." 

The following letter, dictated by S. B. Grubb, four days before 
her decease, in reply to the preceding from B. S. concludes this in- 
teresting correspondence. Sarah B. Grubb was seized with a fever 
whilst at Cork, and died on the 8th of Twelfth Month, 1790. 

" Thy salutation met me, though apparently out of course, in the 
right time ; being under impressions which make time and circum- 
stances of little account, compared with the unlimited consolations 
of the Spirit, or a preparation to receive them at the Divine hand. 
My soul, though encompassed with the manifold infirmities of a very 
afflicted tabernacle, can feelingly worship, and rejoice in nothing 
more than this, that the Lamb, immaculate is still redeeming, by 
his precious blood, out of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, 
and making a glorious addition to the church triumphant, whose 
names will stand eternally recorded in the book of life. I express 
not these things from a redundancy of heavenly virtue, but from 
the soul- sustaining evidence that, amidst all our weakness, and con- 
flicts of flesh and spirit, an interest is mercifully granted in Him 
who giveth victory over death, hell, and the grave/' 



234 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

R. S. to Robert Grubb. 

"Ballitore, 28th of Twelfth Month, 1790. 
"Dear cousin Robert, 
" I doubt not but thou hast had many affectionate, sympathizing, 
consoling salutations from thy numerous friends, in thy present soli- 
tary state ; and, should these be withheld, yet thou knowest where 
and in whom are hid all the fresh springs of true consolation, as 
well as all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ; yet I had a 
mind to throw in my mite of comfort, having myself been tried in 
like manner, with the privation of a bosom-friend, and partner in 
the cares and comforts of this life, and a faithful, religious help- 
mate. Infinite Wisdom indeed has seen meet to ' take away from 
thee the desire of thine eyes, with a stroke ;' but the reflection of 
thy having been favoured with so excellent a companion, — the re- 
collection of the many pleasant, profitable seasons which you had 
together, — and a sense of the spiritual benefit which has accrued 
from your near connexion, must be at times attended with a savour, 
and consolatory feeling, which sweetens the bitter cup. Thy tender 
care of this eminent, honourable servant, — thy attention to her wants 
of every kind, — and thy constant promoting and assisting her in her 
progress in the great work and service in which she was engaged on 
earth, must also be a source of solid satisfaction to thy mind, in the 
frequent retrospect which thou wilt have to take of the time of your 
journeying together in the road of life. So that I wish thee, my 
dear cousin Robert, to be cheered, to look up, to be encouraged to 
attend to the civil and religious duties of the remaining part of thy 
day ; and to endeavour, by thy own spiritual growth in the root of 
Divine life, and improvement in holy experience and right capacity 
for religious service, to make up, according to thy measure, in some 
part, the great loss which the church militant has sustained, by the 
translation of this noble and splendidly-useful instrument from earth 

to heaven 

" R. S " 

R. S. to James Abell. 

"Ballitore, 7th of Twelfth Month, 1790. 
" My dear Friend, 

"I am glad that thou art out on service ; it is the 

way for thee to grow strong, and to get above the little glooms and 
recurring perplexities and despondencies, which from various causes, 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 235 

cast down and disquiet the soul. By being thus employed, thou 
wilt, through exercise, become a trained servant, and be made 
capable to instruct others, thy fellow-servants, in the duties of their 
places and stations, feeding not only the lambs, but the sheep of 
Christ. Go on then, my dear friend, be not afraid of the face of 
man, nor ashamed of the cross of Christ. I repeat it, I have often 
repeated, for I seem to have little new to say, no matter, if fresh 
life be in the offering — I repeat that nothing more glorious, more 
dignifying, more beneficial to mankind, and more worthy of the dedi- 
cation of all our faculties to espouse and promote, ever was let down 
from Heaven to earth. Not only true civilization of manners and 
sound morality, but life and immortality, (i. e. immortal life,) and 
eternal salvation are brought to light, are made manifest through 
the Gospel, a dispensation of which, I doubt not, is committed to 
thee, in order to advance, according to thy gift and measure, these 
great and glorious ends. 

" I believe many have hurt themselves, and become lame and 
dwarfish all their lives long, by letting in the reasoner and the dis- 
courager, consulting too much with human prudence and propriety, 
limiting the Spirit which is the Holy One, starting aside from ser- 
vices, like an affrighted horse on the road, and being in great fear 
where no fear is. By continuing diligent, faithful, and devoted, 
thou wilt, I trust, know more and more distinctly the Master's will, 
and become more and more strengthened to perform it. 

"R. S." 

K S. to M. Dudley. 

" Ballitore, 21s* of Twelfth Month, 1790. 

"My beloved M. D., 

" I have just now treated myself with the re-perusal of thy last 
letter, and (somehow) relish it even better than when it was first 
served to me ; so may all our communications be, not flattening and 
insipid, but increasing in savour, to mutual edification and refresh- 
ment. I find, my dear friend, thou art still poorly in health, sick 
and weakly, perhaps both in body and mind, cumbered with cares 
and children, oppressed with manifold burdens, several of thy inti- 
mate friends separated and secluded from thee by various means, and 
one choice kindred spirit (from whose society thou probably expected 
occasional help and comfort) withdrawn entirely and for ever from 
the field of labour. Thus are those dealt with, and thus it pleases 
the Author of all that is good, continually to wean thee from an 



236 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD shackleton. 

attachment to the creatures, to visible objects, to lower enjoyments, 
to subordinate helps, to subduct from under thee every other prop 
and stay, and to rivet thy attention, expectation, hope, and confi- 
dence, to, from and in him alone. I wish I had it for thee, but I 
am not worthy to comfort thee, and thou knowest where are hid all 
the fresh springs of effectual, Divine consolation. Thou hast always 
been the favoured subject of the merciful regard, and protection and 
care of Him that made thee, who sent thee into life, gave thee a 
name among His people, and honoured thee with a part in His ser- 
vice, and while thou diligently, simply and faithfully feelest after 
the motion of the inward, heavenly life, and walkest and actest in 
obedience thereto, there is no doubt but that thou wilt continue to 
be helped over one mountain and difficulty after another, and through 
every strait till the last strait comes, through which thou wilt also 
be helped and come into a large place, where all the glorious pros- 
pects of which thou hast now and then had a glimpse here, for thy 
revival and encouragement, will be realized in the full, uninter- 
rupted, everlasting enjoyment Thy guests, J. W. and 

children, spent last First-day with us ; I suspect that J. W. did 
not do as he ought to have done in the forenoon meeting, and that 
he was not so happy and comfortable in himself afterwards. This is 
a pity ; for his Master is a good Master, and if He orders a servant 
to do a turn, or go an errand, He does not mean that it should be 
at the servant's charge, He furnishes (though perhaps sometimes 
frugally) for the business, and His pay is good and sure. I suppose 
our dear E. P. and S. L. are going on with the family visit in Cork : 
the removal of our beloved S. R. Gr. from before their eyes, while 
they were engaged in that service there, and the continuing in the 
service must have been a very awful dispensation to them. If thou 
be able to write to E. P., do write, if not, pray for her when thou 
art able. Our dear M. too has been deeply tried with domestic 
events, besides her share in the public loss ; may she be favoured 
to centre in humble resignation, and to bless the Hand who gives 

and takes away ! 

" Farewell^ and remember for good when thou canst, 

" Thy poor affectionate friend, 
" R. S." 

E. S. to his Daughter G . 



" Ballitore, 25th of First Month, 1791. 
" May we all be preserved objects of gracious conde- 
scending regard ; and if it should please Infinite Wisdom to give 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 237 

any of us an understanding in spiritual things, and to qualify us at 
times a little to handle them, let us, in all humility and reverence, 
receive the commission and command, as a favour far transcending 
all worldly honours and emoluments ; let us not slight, nor regret, 
nor repine at the heavenly gift, hut gratefully attend upon it, and 
use our diligent endeavours to improve it, to the honour of the 
Giver. That so our lives may flow on as comfortably as is to he ex- 
pected in this mixed state of existence, under the renewed evidence 
of Divine approbation ; that we may leave vestiges and way-marks 
to the succeeding generations, which they may safely and happily 
follow ; and having had the high honour of being, in any degree, 
engaged in the promotion of the reign and government of Christ on 
earth, may be eternally happy with him in his heavenly kingdom. 

a R. S." 

R. S. to M. Dudley. 

"Ballitore, 25th of First Month, 1791, 
" My beloved Friend, 
c: No part, I think, of the contents of thy letter seemed new to 
me, thy demand of our S. no more than thy engagement, how 
ever her mother and I thought it our duty to give the matter pro- 
posed our best attention ; we also conferred, in such manner as we 
were capable, with our dear child, on the subject. On the whole, 
there seems no material impediment in our minds to S/s attending 
upon thee, and rendering thee any assistance, which may be put in 
her power, in the course of thy important errand. Thou art, my 
dear friend, to see, with the best sight afforded, to thy own proper 
business, and the rectitude of thy movements ; wait in the quiet- 
ness, tarry at Jerusalem till the fulness of time comes, and the 
burden is ripe for unloading, then the endowment of the power will, 
I believe, not be wanting. But beware of letting in the discourager 
and the reasoner, who will be suggesting, ' hath God said V and so 
be for invalidating, superseding, and frittering away the word of Him 
who hath said, ' Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words 
shall not pass away :' He, the great Master, also adds, ' Take 
heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with 
surfeiting, and cares of this life/ My wife, (who is indeed of the 
noblesse,) loves her children with strong maternal tenderness, and 
shudders at the thought of their delicate constitutions being exposed 
to the inclemency of weather, winter journeys, &c, but she does not 
desire to make a monopoly of her children ; she loves them, but she 



238 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

loves Truth better, and if any of them have, in the ordering of 
Infinite Wisdom, been graciously favoured to receive a gift at the 
Lord's hand, it would be matter of joy and gladness to her, and the 
crown of her old age, that they should devotedly exercise their oifts 
for the good of souls. So, take our child, may I say, ' in the Lord's 
name/ and may God Almighty bless and prosper and preserve you, 
both in this and every future service, to his glory, the edification of 

his Church and your own peace 

" R. S:" 

R. S. to Richard Reynolds. 

"Ballitore, 17 th of Second Month, 1791. 

" Richard Reynolds, dear Friend, 

" Immediately on my return home from our last Half-year's 
Meeting, I was saluted with thy kind epistle, which I found here 
ready to receive me. It was and is very grateful to me ; and I shall 
esteem it a favour to be thought worthy of the continued fruits 
of thy friendship and little leisure. There are many cross occur- 
rences which perturb and disquiet, and if Divine Providence should, 
on the other hand, cast up some fresh means of consolation and 
refreshment, why should not we avail ourselves of his bounty ? 
A new correspondence, like a new well opened, in the course of our 
pilgrimage and dry travel, may, under the blessing, and ■' by the 
direction of the Lawgiver,' prove comfortable and strengthening 
for the journey. Indeed I often think of thee, and, whatever be 
the reason, my cogitations about thee, are attended with sympathy 
and compassion ; my mind's eye views thee as in the valley of 
affliction : be not restless, but rest there the appointed time, and 
the Lord is able to make this valley of Achor, (which is trouble,) 
a door of hope. He can cause the ground of this same affliction 
to be productive of the most salutary increase, so that not only 
' Sharon shall be a fold of flocks,' but even ' the valley of Achor 
a place for the herds to lie down in ;' but this happy experience 
is ' for my people that have sought me,' saith the Lord. Mayst 
thou be strengthened then continually to seek the Lord, who in 
inscrutable wisdom orders or permits the close trials which some- 
times beset us ! I know nothing we can do, more likely to benefit 
ourselves and those whose welfare is nearest our hearts, than to keep 
diligently to a holy travail and wrestling of spirit, on our own and 
their behalf. Our own prudence and policy often fail, and the in- 
fluence of nature itself loses its sway where it has all right to rule 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 239 

and govern ; but even ' the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, 
as the rivers of waters he turneth it whithersoever he will/ I 
was pleased that thou hadst got out on church service ; I am per- 
suaded that no worldly business detains thee at home with the 
consent of thy will, and I doubt not but it is, as it certainly ought 
to be, thy studious endeavour to get thy head, hands and feet, (as 
I believe thy heart is already,) loose, and become more and more 
the Lord's free man. Remember the call, ' Shake thyself, (not only 
from the grosser and more defiling parts, but) from the dust, ! 
Jerusalem ;' and ' loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, oh ! 
captive daughter of Zion ;' then will be a putting on strength and 
the beautiful garments, — then will be a receiving the gift in perfec- 
tion, and exercising it to the honour of the Giver, as well as to 
concomitant and consequent sweetness and peace ; then precious 
virtue is known to go forth from the Holy One, as through the 
vehicle of a refined and purified spirit, to others, and there is a 
rejoicing together in the great Master's name. Thus wilt thou more 
and more rise in the dominion of Truth, and get a top in thy mind, 
over those things which would agitate and annoy, and dislocate from 
the proper centre ; thus, however useful thou mayst have been in 
civil and religious life, thy last days will, by the increase of living 
sap, be thy best days, thy end will be comfortable and happy, and 
thy example live in sweet memorial among future generations. So 
be it ! saith thy truly affectionate faithful friend. 

Thy letter seemed to congratulate us on the return of our dear friend 
Sarah Robert Grubb, but see what a state of existence we are in, how 
transient and uncertain ! she just got to our National Meeting, to de- 
liver up her certificate, gave a short, simple account of their visit to the 
continent, — spoke as if herself had been nothing, and had done nothing, 
■ — magnified her Master's cause in several of the sittings of the meet- 
ing, — went to her own home and saluted her relations and friends 
there, — proceeded to the Quarterly Meeting to which she belonged, 
at Cork, laboured there in the authority of the gospel, and when it 
was over, laid down her head in peace at our friend Samuel Neale's, 
at Spring Mount, near Cork, 8th of Twelfth Month last. Her loss 
as a member both of civil and religious Society, is very much re- 
gretted ; but encomiums are superfluous. If we revere her character, 
let us endeavour to follow her example ; if we are attached to the 
Cause, which she was so eminently engaged in, let us wait for quali- 
fications to support it according to our several measures and stations. 
We are in daily expectation of hearing of her brother Henry and his 
sister Ann's landing anions; us. Robert Grubb hears now and then 



240 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

from the neighbouring continent, and favours us here with some 
account ; we understand the precious seed sown there does not seem 
to be lost, we rather hope that it has taken root and is springing up. 
Perhaps the earth is helping the woman, the convulsions and revo- 
lutions in that country forwarding the establishment of the church 

of Christ Our friend Mary Watson is now yoked to a 

family visit in Dublin. We have got through our province of 
Munster in a visit appointed by our Half-year's Meeting, and I 
expect shall shortly proceed to the province of Ulster. We looked, 
perhaps too much, for the assistance of our dear S. R. Grubb in 
that service ; but vain is all such dependence and expectation. 
What is our beloved friend Samuel Smith doing ? I wish his strong 
draught to home and to domestic connexions, may not pull him 
along too forcibly, and prevent his looking to a visit to families in 
some places. c He that believeth shall not make haste/ If thou 
hast opportunity and thinkest proper, thou mayst send him this 
hint, with my dear love and that of all my house. We are in general 
favoured with tolerable health here at present : my daughter Mary 
was married 6th ult. to William Leadbeater, a connexion quite 
agreeable to us, and I humbly hope the union has the Best sanction. 
I am now, I see, got near the end of my paper, and feel my love to 
you all there abound and spread, thy valuable wife, mother, brother, 
sisters, cousin Barnard, Priscy Gurney, Sukey Appleby, and Ann 
Summerland, if still on this side heaven, all possess my aifec- 
tionate remembrance. My wife and children love you, and love all 
honest friends. Do oblige and favour with a line 

" Thy sincerely aifectionate friend, 

" R. S." 

R. S. to . 

1791. 

..... " Though thou didst not seem to require an answer to thy 
letter, but only submit tedst to my consideration, lest thou shouldst 
think me wanting in attention, or defective in good manners, I 
thought it best to make some reply to it. I do not pretend to be 
an adept in language, though I have been a schoolmaster, and along 
with my occupation, which I have quitted, I hope I have quitted 
all that dogmatical pedantry, and trifling pertinacity about words 
which have been attributed to that chair. I just speak my own 
sentiments, language is the vehicle of our thoughts, and this 
vehicle grows old and out of repair, is subject to wear and tear like 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 241 

other things ; one part of it decays, and is supplied by some new- 
work ; in process of time, another part is broken or lost, furt her 
amendment is necessary, and so by degrees the whole vehicle con- 
sists of other materials than its original fabric. When vital Chris- 
tianity was revived about the middle of the last century, in and 
among our ancestors, as instruments to carry on that glorious work 
in England, thee and thou was used by equals among themselves, 
and by superiors to inferiors : ye and you was used by inferiors to a 
superior, and was in general the complimentary appellation. Our 
Friends were called to bear their testimony, among other cor- 
ruptions, against this mean duplicity and flattering respect of 
persons, as proceeding from the corruption of the human heart and 
vitiated manners, — they testified against it, because it had its origin 
in moral evil ; the ungrammatical application of these pronouns 
was not the ground of their negative testimony, but a collateral 
argument which they adduced in favour of it, and in addition to 
it ; indeed I am very sorry to see this argument very much invali- 
dated by ourselves, too many of us entirely exploding plain, honest, 
upright thou, and putting his younger brother thee in his room : but 
I hope there is a growing reformation in this respect. As to ye and 
you, I am very sensible of the distinction which thou makest, and 
of the strict grammatical propriety of it, but though it might have 
been an illegal usurpation at first, yet you has so often got into the 
place of ye, held it so quietly and without opposition, that I am in 
general not offended at seeing the usurper there ; nay, I think that 
he sometimes fills the seat with a better grace and firmness than his 
elder brother ; but ye has no sort of right to intrude into the place 
of you, he has sometimes intruded, but generally in jocularity or 
burlesque. This disquisition puts me in mind of a story I have 
heard ; in some meeting of conference where there was a long debate 
whether ye or you was the more proper term to be inserted in some 
writing that was drawing up, an old woman stood up, and put an 
end to the contention, by saying that she believed the word ye 
was the more proper, as the language of scripture was t ye 

fools/ 

"R. S" 

R. S. to his Daughter G -. 



" Ballitore, 2nd of Third Month, 1791. 
" My dear Margaret, 
" Thy mother received thine of the 26th ult., and though thou dost 
not speak out, I cannot but think that thou durst not stay at home ; 

R 



242 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

so give up cheerfully, and come to this north country. People may 
talk of the weight, and influence, and respectability of age ; but if 
younger persons do not go forth in the service, and exert themselves, 
the Cause will suffer. I am not for dragging thee, my dear child, 
from thy domestic concerns, which are various and important ; but 
if Truth gently draw thee, and whisper that a duty is to be done, I 
would have thee follow its leadings and secret monitions. He that 
made is all-sufficient to preserve : the kine, indeed, must be allowed 
to low as they go ; the natural part, to regret the parting with the 
inexpressibly tender connexions left at home ; but the ark of the 
testimony must be taken out of the land of the Philistines, and 
blessed will they be with whom it resteth. So, my dear M., be not 
dismayed, but if thou hast heard the call, go forth, though it may 
be weeping : bear and scatter the precious seed, according to heavenly 
direction, and there is no doubt but peace will be the crown. Thy 
sister S. holds herself in readiness to go with M. D. I hope it is 
right, but I am sure it is a close trial to us. I feel a soft part in 
my nature : nature must get vent. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to L. S. 

" Stramore, 8th of Fourth Month, 1791. 

[After mentioning the death and sickness of some of their 
friends. ] 

" This calamity (if it may be so called) stalks from 

house to house ; and thus we have repeated evidence, that it is 
but vanity and vexation of spirit to trust in those things which 
are visible, and take up our rest and hope therein : — that a life 
devoted to the service of Him who gave it, and to the promotion of 
truth and righteousness on the earth, is the most happy, most com- 
fortable, most useful, and most honourable one. May I and all 
mine be thus dedicated ! that so, whatever cross occurrences or 
troubles we may meet with in our passage along, on inquiring in 
the temple of the heart, and consulting the Divine oracle there, the 
response from illuminated conscience, the urim and thummim, may 

be peace and well done Farewell, my beloved Lydia ; and 

be assured I am, with love old and new, 

" Thy truly affectionate father, 

"R. S." 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 243 

R. S. to his Son-in-law Leadbeater. 

"Lurgan, 13^ of Fourth Month, 1791. 
" Dear "William, 

" Having written to thy mother, and the rest of our children in 
Ballitore, I thought it would not be unacceptable to thee, to be 

remembered likewise in this manner So, my dear William, 

trouble comes to all the race of men : it is the condition of our 
nature, and no doubt, necessary for us. May thou and thy dear 
companion not be too much wrapped up in each other, but in the 
time of outward tranquillity, and respite from heavy affliction, seek 
diligently to get settled in some hiding-place in that Rock, the in- 
habitants whereof find a shelter from the storms ; yea, and at times 

sing in secret for very joy of heart It will be a very capital 

favour to be rightly helped through the present service: it is diflicult 
and dangerous — requires meekness of wisdom indeed. I wish that 
you, who are young, may keep very constantly going to school ; that 
so you may be learning more and more every day, and be more and 
more qualified to understand and to teach the living lessons of pure 
Christianity. This knowledge is indeed worth aspiring after. It 
comprehends life eternal : it is not seated in the head, the region of 
the imagination, but it occupies the heart ; and, like the sense of feel- 
ing, pervades the whole inward man. Thou knowest, dear William, 
something of this Divine nature : it was the precious sense of it 
which caused in thee such a disrelish for insipid, lifeless, outward, 
unsubstantial forms. Continue to hunger and thirst after it, and it 
alone, and in due season thou wilt be fed. Be content, yea. glad to 
be preserved one of the babes in Christ, who are nourished by the 
milk of the Word ; and not one of the wise and prudent of this 
world, from whom the gospel of life and salvation is impenetrably 
hid 

" M. W. shines in her gift : our dear M. G. in her line, appears 
clothed with the spirit of the gospel ; dear S. W/s little effusions 
are very acceptable : R. G., I hope, well concerned. So we are 
getting on as well as we can, cautious and fearful, that so we may 
do no hurt. 

"R. S." 



r 2 



244 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

K. S. TO HIS WlEE. 

"Lurgan, 19th of Fourth Month, 1791. 

"The good and gracious Master would favour and 

overshadow with his goodness ; but vain, vain man, letting in an- 
other power to rule and sway, the rain from heaven falls unprofit- 
ably, as it were, on the troubled sea. However, in this we have 
satisfaction, that we have laboured plainly, honestly, tenderly, re- 
spectfully, and firmly, both publicly and privately, in order to bring 
into the unity and harmony, and to defeat the enemy's designs ; 
but I fear little is effected, besides bearing our testimony against 
that which is wrong, and lifting up the standard of peace and con- 
cord. The Lord grant that the princes among the people may flock 
to it ! Then I believe religion would flourish in this flourishing 
province. Thou mayst think, my dear love, from this description, 
that we have had a troublesome time of it. Meekness of wisdom 
was the word, and I hope it was in a good degree kept to ; but 
though Moses was the meekest of men, he was also an undaunted 
warrior, and fought with ardour, to get the enemy of the true seed 
cast out of the land 

" The Monthly Meeting proved a favoured, owning, bowing 

season 

" R. S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

"London, 12th of Fifth Month, 1791. 
" Last afternoon I attended another sitting of the Com- 
mittee on the Queries. It is a very difficult job to get on with ; 
there is so much critical accuracy about choice of words. I had to 
rub up my old Greek, and to give my interpretation of a word, in 
the original language of the New Testament. However, I felt the 
Power, which gathered us to be a people, near, as they were framing 
and fashioning patterns for the discipline of the church ; and I 
bowed in humility and thankfulness to the Power, and travailed for 
a blessing on the endeavours used for the preservation and strength- 
ening of that which yet remains of glory and excellence amongst us. 
My cry also was, and is, for wisdom, that I may be instructed to 
behave myself aright in the house of God ; and if I meddle at all, 
that it may be with clean hands and a wise heart. There is too 
much of the mere natural and superficial amongst us : there is want 
of going deeper down than many do. These things, the propagation 
and promotion of vital Christianity, are solemn, awful, and ponderous. 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 245 

Who is sufficient for them ? Not the wise and learned in the wisdom 
of this world, not the rich and great in earthly possessions and rank, 
not the prudent and crafty in human policy ; but those whose suf- 
ficiency is of and from the Lord Almighty, who have no confidence in 
that part of themselves which appertains to the flesh, — who are as 
willing to be nothing as any thing, and who seek not themselves 
nor their own honour, but the honour which cometh from God only : 

and such, I am persuaded, are still mercifully preserved 

It is not in the power of our nature to acquire the knowledge of the 
Truth, it is not in us to retain it in our experience ; but we may 
very easily and readily, as in a moment, dissipate, squander it away, 
and lose it for ever. Yea, while we preach to others, while we 
handle the law and support the testimony, we may, without watch- 
fulness and religious fear, become cast away from Divine favour, and 
die to any sensations of good, or capacity to do good. So let us fear 
as well as love, and be sure to take heed to ourselves first, then to 
the flock, the sheep, and lambs of Christ, if indeed we feel that we 
are appointed by the chief Shepherd to take any oversight thereof. 

"B, S" 

R. S. to his Son. 

" London, 18th of Fifth Month, 1791. 

" Alterations, changes, dismemberments, &c, will fall 

out in families. May we each seek to get settled on that which 
is unchangeable ; that, in whatsoever proportion, prosperity and 
adversity, things pleasant and disagreeable, be mingled in the cup 
of life, we may take it patiently and resignedly at the Lord's hand. 
So will it be a cup of blessings to us : we shall be strengthened with 
effectual help, and take courage to proceed to the end of our journey ; 
where the great plus ultra will open upon us, where is no mixture, 
no sorrow, sighing, nor sickness, but joy everlasting upon the heads 
of the faithful, devoted, humble followers, of our Lord and Saviour 

Jesus Christ The close of the business last evening was 

the reading of the testimonies concerning our late beloved Sarah 
Robert Grubb. It was a very solemn time. Joseph Gurney Bevan 
read audibly and feelingly : Lewis Majolier stood by, and looked on 
the writing as the other read, that he might the better collect the 
sense of a language in which he was but little versed. When 
J. G. B. had finished reading, L. M. asked permission to add his 
verbal testimony, which he did in a few sentences, very explicitly, 
properly, and feelingly. J. G. B. interpreted for him, sentence after 



246 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

sentence, as the other spoke, in a very clear, intelligible manner. 
The solemnity was great, the audience was very large, and, I 
believe, much pleased, and I hope edified, by the whole transaction. 
For my part I was favoured to feel deeply, and to mourn, as I would 
wish, the church's loss. So much for that bright star, now set for 
ever to this lower world. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to his Daughter G . 



" Colebrook Dale, 4dh of Sixth Month, 1791. 
" My dear Margaret, 

cc Believing it will be acceptable to thee to hear from me, I take 
up the pen at the house of our friend Richard Reynolds, and have, 
through the continued kindness of merciful Providence, to inform 
thee that I am in good health, enjoying the converse of friends, 
whom I feel near to my heart, and to whose hearts I have abundant 
reason to think I am nearly united. Deborah Darby is indeed 
wanting, to consummate our social felicity ; but I believe she is 
rightly employed about her Master's business, from which, neither 
the partiality of special friendship, nor maternal tenderness for her 
children, who are here during school-vacation, have attractions suf- 
ficient to draw her. She and R. Y. are on their way from Yearly 
Meedng, visiting meetings, families, &c, — they are not likely to 
arrive here during our stay. The Yearly Meeting was large, and, 
I hope, solemn. I hope also that it was renewedly felt and ex- 
perienced, that, notwithstanding lamentable declension and dimness 
may be acknowledged, our religious Society is still owned a chosen 
people, among whom the lively oracles are deposited, the gifts and 
graces of the Spirit are bestowed, and the principles of pure and 
genuine Christianity are professed. 

" Fuch time had been previously employed, and during intervals 
continued to be employed, about modelling new sets of queries : this 
furnished ample scope for argumentation, &c. For my part, through 
the most merciful and gracious condescension of the Lord Almighty, 
if in humble reverence I may so presume to say, I was satisfied, 
having divers times got down to my own hole in the rock, the secret 
place of the stairs assigned me. In that clornicilium, that little 
mansion, I am not only content, but thankful to dwell. May but 
the hand of Omnipotence preserve me there ! for even there the 
enemy will endeavour to make an entrance, and defile, and defeat, 
and destroy if he can ; for that is the work of his cruelty and malice. 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 247 

" I doubt not that our beloved E. Pirn would communicate to 
thee some intelligence respecting the women's Yearly Meeting, &c, 
which her valuable sister G. would send her. This dear sister grows, 
I hope, in a capacity for religious service, and in the qualifications 
of a mother in Israel. May they both grow together in the Lord : 
so will their labour and their example be of singular use in their day, 
and infinite and glorious will be their recompense of reward 

" James Lecky, Anna Taverner, and I, set out from "Worcester 
yesterday, and arrived in the evening at this highly-favoured spot, 
where we are most kindly and cordially entertained. I expect we 
shall stay for the meeting here to-morrow, and next day set off for 
Manchester, in order to pay a visit to dear Sarah Taylor, who, we 
understand, appears to be near launching out of time, into, no doubt, 
a blissful eternity. If we can receive her last blessing, it may, per- 
haps, help us on our way 

" And now, my beloved Margaret, having given thee, historical 
and all, as it occurred, I must draw to a conclusion. Thou knowest 
that thou art exceedingly near and dear to me, and that thy poor 
father's chief joy is to see, to be sensible, that the children of the 
elect lady walk in the Truth. Thou hast received a heavenly gift, let 
it be of whatever denomination it may. What matters the name 
of it ? Attend upon it, prize it : it is the wisdom which is more 
precious than rubies. Exercise it when the great Master bids ; when 
he cometh, calleth for thee, singles thee out, and puts thee forth in 
any little service. This is the way for the waters of this life's afflic- 
tions to be changed into the wine of the kingdom, and for the 
sorrows and perplexities of this world to be turned into heavenly joy. 
Nothing short of hearkening and obeying will do ; but diligently 
hearkening, and faithfully obeying, will do — will do all for thee, and 
more than thou canst ask or think. 

" Farewell, my dearly beloved child. Remember me affectionately 
to thy worthy husband, sweet children, all relations and friends. I 
must particularize my dear E. P. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to Anne Shannon and Elizabeth Penrose. 

"Ballitore, 22nd of Seventh Month, 1791. 
" My dear Cousins, 
" Understanding that ye were both together, and an opportunity 
offering to Mountmellick, I embrace it to salute you, with mine and 
my wife's dear love, a threefold cord which I trust will not be quickly 



248 MEMOIRS OP RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

broken, as it is entwisted with natural kindred, social friendship, 
and spiritual union. We rejoice, my dear cousins, in that we are 
persuaded that our common, most gracious Benefactor hath taken 
you up, even when as exposed infants, hath reared you, and led you, 
and fed you until this hour : so that instead of being immersed in 
obscure darkness and pollution, your lights shine round about you ; 
instead of being cause of sorrow and shame to your near connexions, 
we extract satisfaction and delight from our relation to you ; instead 
of forfeiting your privileges with respect to [our] religious Society, 
or being branded with censure by it, ye have been preserved in the 
precious unity of the body, and are looked up to as the hopes of orna- 
ment, and help in the church. Now what will ye render, my beloved 
children, in return for all these benefits ? Why, give up your all, 
body, soul,_ and spirit, as a whole burnt-offering, with unreserved 
dedication. There are too many partial sacrifices. Remember ye 
what our Lord said to the rich young man, ' If thou wilt be per- 
fect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt 
have treasure in Heaven, and come and follow me/ And I believe, 
my dear cousins, that it is your sincere desire that ye may be enabled 
and qualified so to do. I believe your eyes have been mercifully 
opened to see a glimpse of the transcendent beauty and excellence, 
which is in the Truth, may the cares and disquietudes of this life 
never be permitted to close or dim them, nor the stealing torpor of 
indifference and lukewarmness cause them to sleep the sleep of death ! 
But use all diligence to stir up the gift which is in you, for saith 
the apostle, ' God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, 
and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed 
of the testimony of our Lord, but be thou partaker of the afflictions 

of the gospel, according to the power of God/ 

I returned, 18th inst., from an excursion to Wicklow and the 
county of Wexford, and had cause of satisfaction in my progress. I 
think it is a choice thing to get into a good service. The great and 
good Master keeps a noble house, and a plentiful table, no honest, 
faithful, diligent servant of his, will want meat in due season ; he 
feeds and clothes, and supplies with every necessary, he also instructs 
and gives skill to his servants how to behave themselves in his 
house, that there may be no disorder nor confusion, no clashing nor 

mistaking, but good order and harmonious labour 

" I am, my dear cousins, very affectionately yours, 

" R, S/' 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 249 



R. S. to his Daughter G- 



" Ballitore, 23rd of Eighth Month, 1791. 

" Who is exempt from trials and temptations ? This 

life is the field of battle, and our most dangerous enemies are those of 
our own house. May the lamp of God, in the temple of our hearts, 
be kept still renewed and replenished with heavenly oil, that we may 
have a clear sight of what is doing within us, lest we should think 
otherwise of ourselves than we really are. Purity of heart is a main 
qualification for any service in the church of Christ ; let us then use 
all diligence to obtain and retain this precious state. c Blessed are 
the pure in heart, for they shall see God/ They shall clearly discern 
the things which belong to his kingdom ; and when they speak of 
them, it will be of what they have seen with their spiritual eyes, and 
what they have c looked upon / what has been brought by the Holy 
Spirit before their internal view, as an object of contemplation for 
themselves, and a subject which they are authorized to handle with 
clean hands, and with hallowed lips to communicate to others. Thy 
effusions in this line, my dear M., according to the best of my appre- 
hension, are thus sanctified and commissioned. I have had near 
unity with them, and I would have thee, my dear child, to ' thank 
God/ that it has been his good pleasure thus to honour thee with 
his commands ; and I wish thee also to ' take courage/ and proceed 
in the exercise of thy gift. Let thine heart keep the commandments 
of wisdom, and the law of the Spirit ; ' for length of days, and long 
life, and peace, shall they add to thee/ 

" Farewell, my dear child : I am thankful that I am thy affec- 
tionate father, 

" R, S." 

R. S. to Mary Watson. 

« Ballitore, 31st of Eighth Month, 1791. 

" My dear Friend, 

" It is not always that communications between inti- 
mate and feeling friends can be upon religious subjects ; the key of 
that treasury is in better hands than of any mortal, but we may sup- 
port an intercourse in another line, if not to edification, yet to grati- 
fication. I am sensible that as long as I have a family, I cannot 
want a subject interesting and grateful to thee, and I am persuaded 
that thou dost justice to my friendship in forming a similar judg- 
ment of my attachment to thee and thine S. is at home 



250 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

with us, an excellent example of industry, quietness, humility, and un- 
affected simplicity. The fountain of her heart, I trust, is in a good 
degree made pure, so that what issues from thence has the savour of 
life, she is not very frequent in her gospel effusions, but sometimes 
appears in that line, always I believe acceptably to others, but I 
believe is hard set to please herself; this, I apprehend, (from my 
own little feeling experience,) is no uncommon case. It is probably 
in the wise economy of the great and good Master that flesh may be 
kept from glorifying ; doubting, and diffidence, and fear of being 
wrong has also its use with the creature, that there may be a being 
inured to a steady, patient, watching and waiting, and trying and 
examining what rises in the mind, and so there may be a becoming 
learned in spirit and skilful to make a difference. For, as in other 
schools, so in the school of Christ, learning is attained by degrees, 
and by frequent application and repetition, and in this school there 
is often occasion for mistakes to be amended, faults corrected, and 
scholars to be not only instructed, but reproved, and even sometimes 
punished. There is also occasion for observation, use and long prac- 
tice, to promote a growth in religious understanding, and to give a 
happy facility of communicating such knowledge to others. Mayst 
thou, my beloved friend, be encouraged to prosecute thy studies in 
this school, and patiently and docibly go through the course allotted 
thee, that so every great and gracious design of Infinite Wisdom 
respecting thee may be fulfilled, the church may have the full benefit 
of those services for which thou hast by a long train of sufferings 
been preparing, and thy own soul the full recompense of reward ! 
This is my earnest wish for thee, and in this and every sentiment 

of true affection for thee, my wife heartily joins 

" Farewell, my dear friend, 

" R. S." 

R. S. to Richard Reynolds. 

" Ballitore, 4th of Ninth Month, 1791. 
e< Richard Reynolds, dear Friend, 

:c I have just been re-perusing thy last kind letter 



with renewed satisfaction, and wish to be preserved in such a lowly, 
humble state, as to preserve the unity and much valued amity of 
such friends. Indeed much depends on being preserved in this 
state, so characteristic of the Great Master. A departure from it 
has proved the ruin of thousands ; and by how much more useful 
and conspicuous any become in the church, by so much more con- 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 251 

spicuous should this spirit appear in them. This spirit if kept to, 
will work wonders. It is the well- watered, well-dug, and well-culti- 
vated soil, in which the Christian virtues grow and flourish. Alas, 
for many in our poor Society ! They have chosen the barren moun- 
tains, a dry and parched soil, or their roots have struck into a hard 
and stiff clay, and they bear neither leaves nor fruit. But the great 
Husbandman is not unmindful of His plantation, He is sending 
skilful labourers into it, and not only so, but by His own immediate 
power, He has reached divers, arrested them in their retrograde, 
wayward course, and brought them into the way everlasting. So 
that, according to my sense, there is encouragement for the faithful 
devoted servants to persevere, doing each his own business and that 
part of the general labour which is assigned him. Some particulars 
may be sent on particular expeditions and services, but the discipline 
of the church is a general field of labour, in which no living mem- 
ber is exempt from a share. For my part, ever since I became in 
some measure acquainted with the Truth, and mercifully arrived at 
some settlement in it, my relative duties in [our] religious Society, the 
share of the support of discipline, which I apprehended fell to my 
lot, has been among the capital weights and burdens, and exercises, 
and distresses of my life. As our inward frames differ one from 
another, so these things are harder to some dispositions than others, 
they have been particularly so to me ; so that I could say with Job, 
1 The things that my soul refused to touch, are as my sorrowful 
meat/ But I have lived to see a termination to many of these con- 
flicts ; I have lived to see captivity led captive, rebellious children 
become loyal subjects, and the opposers of Truth triumphantly bear- 
ing its standard in the sight of its enemies, their former associates. 
Many unfaithful professors also, whom neither gentle expostulations 
could win, nor repeated warnings intimidate, have been summoned 
before another tribunal, to receive their final sentence and ever- 
lasting retribution, according as their works have been. that 
such as now trouble the church may awake in time to a proper 
sense of their state, ere it be too late, while the day of visitation 
lasts, and a place of repentance is yet to be found ; for by reason of 
frequent resistance, there may be a cessation of the strivings of 
grace, and the poor creature left to itself, in the hour of bitter dis- 
tress, may ask and ask in vain, when he from within shall answer 
and say, ' Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children 

are with me in bed ; I cannot rise and give thee. 1 

" I am, my dear friend, sincerely thine, 

" R. S." 



252 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

R. S. to his Daughter G 

" Ballitore, 22nd of Eleventh Month, 1791. 
" My beloved Margaret, 

" I was favoured with thy very acceptable letter, and join thee in 
gratitude for your getting so bravely home, and finding all so well. 
Numberless are the favours, known and unknown, which we are 
made partakers of, by the gracious interposition and ordering of our 
bountiful Creator and Preserver. May they all conspire to raise in 
us desires to serve him according to his will, and may we manifest 
our gratitude by our filial obedience 

" I gratefully and greatly admire at my enjoying so considerable 
a share of health. Several of us attended our meetings for discipline 
at Carlow, the 18th inst. A. T. was with us, exercising her gift in 
public, and completing what remained of her visit to families there, 
which she has now performed throughout our Monthly Meeting. 

Well, I do love to see business, the Lord's business, 

going forward, and the youth stepping into their lots, lively, experi- 
mental witnesses of the power of an endless life ; fresh, feeling, and 
full of good matter ; loving their good Master, and willing to give 
that proof of it which he peculiarly required, that is, to feed his 
lambs and his sheep. A little longer time, and we are numbered 
to the silent grave, in common with all the generations which have 
been before us. Let us then, while we are here, seek for help to do 
our duty acceptably in the sight of our great judge ; that so, at the 
awful day of decision, our spirits, disrobed of this mortal clothing, 
may hear the blessed sentence with unspeakable joy, and be merci- 
fully separated to eternal felicity 

"R. S." 

R. S. to his Wife. 

" Mountmellick, 29th of Eleventh Month, 1791. 
"I know not how it may continue with me, but I have 



hitherto felt more of the baptizing power of Truth, I think, in this 
visit, than I have usually experienced on like occasions. I do not 
mean that I have found any increase of religious capacity to move 
in service, but my spirit has been engaged in deep travail for the 
sake of the cause of Christ. Indeed this seems the business allotted 
me : a silent travail and wrestling of spirit for my own preservation, 
and for the return and restoration of our church, which seems in 
danger of going back into the wilderness, out of which she came, in 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 253 

former days, leaning upon her Beloved. It is painful indeed to see 
that there are so few, in most places, qualified to answer the neces- 
sary calls and duties in [our] religious Society ; but, I trust, a 
number of the rising generation, being sensible that these things are 
so, will be stirred up with a noble emulation and godly zeal, for the 
promotion of this blessed cause ; in which they will have peace and 
the favour of their great Creator, which is far beyond all that this 
world can afford. 

" R. S." 

R. S. to his Son. 

" Twelfth Month, 1791. 
" It is marvellous how dear Anna Taverner holds out 



in the depth of winter : encompassed with bodily weakness and in- 
firmities, she struggles to get forward in the work pointed out to her, 
thinking it, no doubt, her crown and high honour to be employed in 
advocating the cause of Christianity ; the most great and glorious 
which ever existed, or will ever exist among men. There is much 
difference of sentiment, much conflict and contention among men, 
respecting civil government ; but few understand any thing about 
the government of Christ. His loyal subjects are very few : very 
few qualified to espouse and promote his government, though it is 
under his government alone that men can be safe, comfortable, and 
happy. I wish the youth in our religious Society would lay these 
things to heart, in a general way, and that such of them that know 
and feel that those things are so, would not reason with flesh and 
blood, nor be disobedient to the heavenly vision, nor tarry behind 
the prophet, nor leave him ; but go with him, in his successive pro- 
gress, to Bethel, to Jericho, and to Jordan, where, having rent their 
own clothes in pieces, and occupied the mantle of the prophet, (the 
covering of the Spirit, the gift, the qualification for service,) calling 
on the Lord God of Elijah, they would know a dividing of the 
waters, and a passing over into the several lots and portions of 
labour. This is honour indeed, and worthy of the pursuit of im- 
mortal spirits 

" The elders, the trained servants, the baptized, baptizing min- 
isters, are gone and going off the stage : c Your fathers, where are 
they ? and the prophets, do they live for ever V 

« E. S." 



254 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

&. S. to his Daughter Sarah. 
[Then attending 8. JSTeale.] 

" Ballitore, 28th of First Month, 1792. 

" We are much concerned that thou hast no more 

favourable account to give us of our beloved Samuel Neale, whose 
indisposition, and that of his dear wife, is deeply affecting to us. 
His particular, kind, and frequent remembrance of me, is grateful 
to my heart, which salutes him in affectionate sympathy, and 
earnestly desires that he may be supported every way, under the 
pressure of the present pungent affliction, and that my dear friend, 
his faithful wife, may experience like effectual help 

" If we really, truly, and sincerely love the Master, let us willingly 
give that testimony of it, which he himself requires ; let us be willing 
to feed his lambs and his sheep. There is nothing like obedience, 
it is even preferred to sacrifice, which itself is highly excellent. 
Obedience makes the Almighty our friend, as Abraham was called 
God's friend : obedience causes peace and tranquillity at home, 
without which life is insipid, unpleasant, if not miserable. So, my 
dear S. continue to be a good, obedient child, that I may continue 
to be a glad and grateful father. 

" R. S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

"Ballitore, 16th of Second Month, 1792. 

" Whatever symptoms may attend our dear friend's 

bodily disorder, the symptoms which thou reportest attending his 
mind, are salutary and comfortable. It is a fine thing for him now, 
that in the time of his health and strength, and active life, he con- 
sidered the poor, (the poor church,) and was willing to spend and 
be spent, that she might be enriched. ' Blessed/ says the royal 
Psalmist, ' is he that considereth the poor ; the Lord will deliver 
him in time of trouble : the Lord will strengthen him upon the bed 
of languishing ; thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.' Present 
us all to him, as a family that loves and respects him sincerely, and 
wishes, if it be the Divine will, that he may yet be restored to his 
numerous friends, and fill up his measure of service on earth, that 
so he may obtain the full fruition of reward in heaven. He is seldom 
out of our waking thoughts, and the best desires which we are capable 
of, are fervent on his behalf, not doubting but that, whatever way 



MEMOIES OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 255 

Infinite Wisdom shall be pleased to dispose, it will be well, ever- 
lastingly well with him. 

"R. S." 

From the Same to the Same. 

"Ballitore, 29th of Second Month, 1792. 
" My dear Child, 
" Last evening we received the sorrowful tidings of the decisive 

event, for which thy last had prepared us Present thy 

mother and me, and all ours, as one joint family, which unites in 
cordial love to, and affectionate sympathy with, our dear afflicted 
friend, Sarah Neale. I feel, I think, that she is supernaturally, 
effectually, supported in spirit, under this great trial, and that she 
can and does bless the Hand which gave and takes away. See, my 
dear S., and learn confirmedly by her example, how happy a circum- 
stance it is to have been enabled to take the yoke of Christ upon 
the neck in the early part of life ; how such, in time of trouble, and 
when old age and infirmities increase, have an asylum, a sanctuary 
to flee to, wherein they find protection and safety ! 



R. S. 



R. S. to Richard Reynolds. 



" Dear Friend, 
" I doubt not but that our beloved sister, D. Darby, acknowledged 
for me the receipt of thy acceptable letter ; it conveyed the sorrowful 
intelligence of the removal of our mutual dear friend, Mary Merry- 
weather, and this goes charged with an account of the translation of 
another precious servant, from works to rewards. Our well esteemed 
friend and brother, Samuel Neale, had of late years been rather on 
the decline as to his health, and these last three or four months grew 
much worse, was seized with a mortification in his foot, and notwith- 
standing all the medical skill and labour bestowed, departed this 
transitory life 27th ult. His head had been much confused, and 
his thoughts deranged by the opiates which it was judged proper to 
administer to him, but, at intervals of recollection and clear under- 
standing, he put forth the evident, sweet and savoury fruits of a 
sound mind, — of a mind supported by Divine, effectual help, which 
enabled and authorized him feelingly to express his triumph over 
death, hell, and the grave. His travels in all parts of the world, 
where our religious Society was settled, at one time or other of his 
life, caused him to be very generally known ; and the sweetness, live- 



256 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD shackleton. 

liness, and tenderness which accompanied his gospel labours, made 
him to be very generally loved ; so that it may be said of this 
Samuel also, ' He died and all Israel lamented him/ My youngest 
child, Sarah, had for a long time been attached to him with filial 
affection, and when she heard of his dangerous state, posted to him, 
with our free consent ; she was much gratified by an assiduous at- 
tendance on her honoured friend for several weeks, and was present 
with him, to her comfort, at the final close. ' Thus the righteous 
perisheth/ but I hope it cannot be said, that t no man layeth it to 
heart.' I trust these dispensations to the church, ordered in Infinite 
Wisdom, are laid to heart by many of our youth especially, and that 
there will be a succession of fishers, and fowlers, and hunters, who 
will diligently seek after and preserve alive the precious prey of the 

souls of men 

I observe when thou favouredest me with thy last, thou wast on 
the eve of a journey, I hope it proved prosperous, that peace was 
the effect, and peace the reward. 1 am glad when I hear of thy 
excursions in the service of Truth, such exercise strengthens the 
spiritual constitution, and the example of those whom Providence 
has been pleased not only to endow, but to bless, with even this 
world's affluence, hath a powerful influence ; of how much greater 
weight and use must it be then when spiritual gifts are added to 
temporal loans ? Bear with me, dear friend, and do not refuse the 
word of approbation and encouragement, when it comes rightly to 
thee, or at least from a well-meaning spring, trouble and discourage- 
ment are plentiful enough. You rich men are really to be pitied, and 
demand the cordial sympathy of your friends. I am thankful that 
there are a few of you, who bid fair for escaping the woe and entering 
the kingdom, though it may be through great tribulations and afflic- 
tions of divers kinds. It is but holding; out a little longer, and the 
scene of probation and conflict will be over with us all, then our 
spirits shall centre in the mansions prepared for them, but our ex- 
ample and precedent may operate long after our existence here, as is 
said, ' He being dead yet speaketh/ May the cause therefore of 
Truth and its precious testimonies ever be dearer and nearer to us 
than any other consideration, and let us like faithful Abraham (the 
friend of God) in our heart and will, sacrifice every mutual feeling 
and affection to that allegiance, which we owe to the supreme com- 
mand, and good pleasure of our great Creator, manifested to us by 
the Spirit of his Son. This appears to me, the most likely means to 
draw down the favour and friendship of Heaven upon us, and to 
procure and preserve to us in a better and happier state that which 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 257 

we have, under a sense of duty, offered in our hearts, a sacrifice to 
the Lord. 

" I am, dear friend, with true regard and esteem, * 
" Very affectionately thine, 

" R. S." 

From R. S. to his Daughter Sarah. 

" Ballitore, 12th of Third Month, 1792. 

"I would not have thee be too concise, nor get a habit 

of concealing and suppressing, under an apprehension that thy com- 
munications are little worth. There is danger on that head; though, 
as it grows out of the stock of humility, it may be said to be erring on 
the right side, not on the left. But I would have my beloved S., 
err on no side, but keep in the middle way, out of all extremes. ' I 
[wisdom] lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths 

of judgment/ It is a certain truth, tbat when any are 

engaged in the Lord's business, and see the pointings of his hand to 
particular service, much trouble would often be saved by simply 
making use of the opportunity put into the hand, and not deferring, 
procrastinating, and reasoning, till the vision fadeth, the understand- 
ing becomes clouded, and the strength and spiritual animation is 

gone 

" R. S." 

R. S. to John Thorpe. 

" Ballitore, 3rd of Fourth Month, 1792. 

"It is now about a year since I was favoured with thy very 
acceptable and instructive letter ; since which I have had the 
pleasure of personal conversation with thee. The sentiments ex- 
pressed in thy letter, very much accord with my own, and confirm my 
experience, so that it seems needless to dwell upon them. Indeed, as 
in conversation, so in thus writing, the fresh, unpremeditated, rising, 
subject, with the fresh life upon it, is only truly pleasing and edifying. 

" By this time you have felt the loss of your honoured mother, 
beloved sister, and faithful friend, Sarah Taylor. Such a loss is not 
immediately known to its full extent. But I think these dispensa- 
tions are peculiarly useful, they tend to make the surviving, rightly- 
concerned, gifted individuals, still more sensible of their weakness 
and insufficiency, being thus stripped of, as it were, collateral 
strength ; they cause such, under this sense, more importunately to 
crave Divine help, trembling for the ark of the testimony, lest in their 
time, and whilst committed to their care, it should fall into the 

s 



258 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

hands of the enemy. So dwelling here, a growth and increase are, in 
due time, witnessed, the little ones are made as Davids, and the 
Davids as the angel of the Divine presence, ministering joy and 
gladness, and kindling those sacrifices which the Lord never did nor 
ever will despise. Of what great importance then is it, my beloved 
friend, that you, who have received gifts, should not only go down 
deep, but dwell deep ; and, seeing the works and wonders of the 
Lord therein, bring up your stones of memorial from thence. A 
sound and living ministry is of unspeakable benefit to the church. 
The Almighty can do all things by his own immediate power ; but 
it is his pleasure to make use of the instrumentality of men and 
women, in gathering and preserving the Christian church. Even 
the Head of it desired his immediate followers to pray the Lord of 
the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. 

" I fear some too lightly estimate their own qualifications for 
religious services, and so fall back in their ranks, and weaken the 
general Cause ; and I fear that sometimes some of our elders, through 
an excess of caution, lest they should lift up too much, have been 
deficient in cherishing as they ought, and encouraging the ' babes 
and sucklings,' out of whose mouth is to be perfected praise. There- 
fore there is a necessity to wait, to be endued with that wisdom 
which is profitable to direct, that so the understanding of the inward 
man may be properly illuminated ; and to have the spiritual senses of 
the inward man quickened and exercised, that so the understanding 
may rightly judge of spiritual things. 

" We too have suffered a general loss, in the removal of our 
friend and brother, Samuel Neale. He was a man of a free, open, 
generous, candid spirit — of considerable property in the world. He 
was a visited and called instrument, a chosen vessel, a brand plucked 
out of the fire. He was a baptized and baptizing minister of the 
gospel, who spent and was spent in his Master's service. In the 
active part of his life he travelled on the evangelical errand, in 
all parts of the world, where Friends were then settled. For some 
years last past he grew more infirm, and disabled by bodily disorders ; 
but his love to the precious Truth, and his desire to promote the 
saving knowledge of it, was such, that he still struggled to get out, 
even among his distant friends. In the last excursion of the sort 
which he made, I was with him, and several other Friends. It was 
in consequence of an appointment of our Half- Year's Meeting, in 
which he was free to join. I did not expect his long surviving that 
service, and marked the patience, meekness, humility, and tender- 
ness of his spirit, very much to my satisfaction. To my satisfaction, 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 259 

also, I was a witness to the stream of gospel life in which he mini- 
stered ; that life in which at the first ' he spake trembling, and 
exalted himself in Israel \ that life in a remarkable manner accom- 
panied his effusions through the course of his religious movements, 
for above forty years, and evidently crowned his religious labours. 
As he was an early and intimate friend of mine, I cannot but feel- 
ingly, though resignedly, mourn his loss. 

" K. S/' 

R. S. to Mary Dudley. 

" Ballitore, \Qth of Fourth Month, 1792. 



tt 



My beloved Friend, 



"It was exceeding kind of thee to give me so copious 

a history and so minute a detail of your journey, wherein I doubt not 
but ye would confirmedly learn the sound sense and significance of 
the aphorism, 'use strength and have strength/ Ye would re- 
newedly experience, that to follow the little glimmering of light, and 
whatsoever the hand findeth to do, to do it with the present might — 
though that might might be as weakness, ye would feel that this 
was the way to grow from strength to strength, in capacity for reli- 
gious service. I am glad to have thee and our dear E. P. paired 
together by the great Master, who at the first sent his disciples, 
' two and two before his face into every city and place whither he 
himself would come/ He knows human weakness and the infirmities, 
both of flesh and of spirit, that ' two are better than one ;' and that 
these two being united to him, the ' three-fold cord is not quickly 
broken/ It is a happy circumstance, when matters are so ordered, 
for one little fly mars the precious ointment, one gathering (collect- 
ing, accumulating) gourds from a wild vine, and shredding into 
the pot, spoils the mess for the sons of the prophets. I hope the 
support and supplies administered during your engagement in the 
service, as well as the comfortable serenity since experienced, will 
encourage you both to proceed, and quietly and devotedly step into 
the field of labour when it is pointed out by the Great Shepherd, and 
the door is opened to enter in. There has, I am afraid, been too 
much of an inactive, indolent spirit, growing and spreading over 
the minds of some, who had received gifts, to the hurt and wrong of 
the Cause, the great, important Cause of Christianity, and to their 
own irremediable wounding, and irretrievable loss. May the harms 
of others strike a terror into those who are yet mercifully preserved 

alive, though in humility, diffidence, and godly fear 

s 2 



260 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

Time brings forward the solemnities of our great national assem- 
blies in this and the neighbouring land, and some of us may probably 
meet in consequence. May our spirits be rightly seasoned and 
qualified, so as that we may fill up our several departments with 
acceptance. David was well aware of the necessity of being cleansed, 
as a preparation for acceptable offering, when he said, ' I will wash 
mine hands in innocency : so will I compass thine altar, Lord. 
That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of 
thy wondrous works/ 

" Thou well knowest, my dear friend, that crosses, disappoint- 
ments, and afflictions, are necessary and salutary for us, that bitters 
are as suitable as sweets to be mingled in the cup, and the rod as 
well as the staff, is administered to comfort, that is to strengthen 
the mind. Well, go on then, beloved friend, doing the will of thy 
Father which is in heaven, and having been, in unutterable love 
and condescending mercy, called out of the world, its corrupt ways, 
and false worships, proclaim to the world what thou hast heard and 
seen, and felt and known of the religion, the reign and government 
of Christ. As too many of the bidden guests, the natural branches of 
the family, make excuses and will not come to the Lord's supper, 
by the precious prevalence and holy energy of living gospel ministry 
compel them to come in ; not only the poor, the maimed, the halt, 
and the blind, who dwell unnoticed and obscure, as in the streets 
and lanes of a populous city, and who may be more readily per- 
suaded and brought in : but those that are in the highways, the 
profession of the religion by law established, hedged about and 
defended by human policy and human force, for the gracious purpose 
of the universal Father of mankind is, that his house shall be filled : 
may the subsequent determination be mercifully revoked or 
avoided, ' For I say unto you, that none of those men which were 
bidden, shall taste of my supper/ We all join in affectionate salu- 
tation to thee and thy husband, and in good wishes for all belonging 
to you. I often secretly salute thee with sympathy and brotherly 
love, in which I now bid thee farewell. 

"R. S." 

ft. S. to his Daughter Sarah. 

" Colebrook Dale, 12th of Fifth Month, 1792. 

"It looks as if we should stay here to-day and to- 
morrow, as none of our company, beside myself, have been here 
before ; and this is a princely seat of hospitality, from which, and 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 261 

the curiosities of which, I am loath to hurry my companions away. 

I trust I am in degree sensible who it is that has turned 

the hearts of this people towards me. and who has also given me 
this sensibility and sensation of humble gratitude : and there is not 
a doubt, my dear S., but that if we be graciously preserved in the 
way of our duty, we shall have as much room as will be good for us 
in the hearts of our fellow-creatures. It is said, I think, that when 
a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at 
peace with him. How closely then must the sweet union of friends 
be rivetted in such a case ! May our ways, my dear child, be so 
directed, as more and more to please the Lord ; then I am sure it 
will be happy for us, our increase will be unto holiness, and the 
end everlasting life 

" Christ washed the feet of his disciples, previously to the com- 
mand that they should wash the feet of one another. How remark- 
ably cleanness was insisted on, and prescribed under the Jewish 
dispensation, and how absolutely necessary it is in these gospel 
times, it is necessary not only for beauty but for strength : men of 
clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger. I have done what I 
could for you, my dear children, by way of worldly provision. If 
I had been more of one of this world's children, probably I should 
have done more for you in that way. I have done what I could, 
and I trust, if you look and lean aright, He that was mercifully 
pleased to care and provide for me, who (in my estimation) am 
more unworthy, will not fail to care and provide for you, every 
manner of way. Love, and aid, and cherish your dear mother, as 
you have done 

" Farewell, my precious S. ; thy simplicity, faithfulness, and 
obedience, will, I hope, ever unite thee to my heart, which earnestly 
desires (and desires nothing more for you all than) that you may 
walk in the fear and wisdom of our great Creator. 

"R. S." 

R. S. to his Daughter Leadbeater. 

"London, 19th of Fifth Month, 1792.* 
Dies quern semper acerbum habebo. 

" The cordial welcome I received from my very kind 

friend , was particularly grateful to me, and the kindness and 

attention of his wife are renewedly imprinted on my heart. Their 

children too, their children are like Friends' children, love the 

* The day on which R, S., lost his first wife. 



262 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SIIACKLETON. 

society of Friends, and are settled in the habits in which they have 
been brought up ; habits of humility, reverence for the laws and 
ordinances established among us, and love and respect for good men. 
They are brought up as wise children, who make glad fathers and 

mothers 

" When the mind is relieved and strengthened by supernatural 
aid, there is a submissive, patient acquiescence with the Divine 
will, — a belief that all that the Lord doth is right, and a humble, 
stedfast hope, that having been graciously pleased, in condescend- 
ing goodness, to love his own (his called, visited, chosen, preserved 
children) in the early, inexperienced part of life, and having mani- 
fested his providential care, support, and supplies throughout their 
journey, he will love them to the end. So I hope thy dear mother, 
my precious help-mate, will not be suffered to sink below measure ; 
but rely on, and feel underneath, the everlasting arm of sure help. 
You will, I doubt not, continue to take all necessary, assiduous, affec- 
tionate care of her ; and her prospect, whether she looks backward 
or forward, as to herself, seems, in my estimation, bright and clear : 
so to all-wise and all-merciful Providence, I commit and commend 
you all. 

"R. S." 

R. S to L. S. 

"London, 29th of Fifth Month, 1792. 
" I am a very poor creature, my dear Lydia, and 



stand much in need of guidance and assistance. I have hitherto 
been wonderfully helped, and indeed, at times, admire at the coinci- 
dence of circumstances which favour me ; so that I get through one 
thing and another, which I want to have effected. So that, as I 
advance in old age, I am confirmed in the sentiment, that if we 
be but humble, diligent, and circumspect, looking and leaning to 
Almighty help, and witnessing these lustrations and ablutions, which 
are necessary to be experienced (and often too) in our mixed state, 
we shall be preserved, and do well. 

"R. &." 

R. S. to his Daughter G . 



" Ballitore, 9th of Eighth Month, 1792. 

" We should be pleased with intelligence concerning 

E. H., M. D., and E. P. a precious triumvirate, gone on a high 
embassy. It is comfortable to find that the Great Master is thus 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 263 

sending messenger after messenger, on his holy errands ; and that, 
notwithstanding our lapsed state, so many are found worthy to be 
honoured with a commission from the Great King, and willing to 
take as it were their lives in their hands, and run to and fro', that 
the saving knowledge of God and Christ may be increased in the 
earth 

"R. S." 

Withdrawn from the busier scenes of life, while their sun de- 
scended brightly, Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton were solicitous, 
not only for the welfare of their own family, and the Society to which 
they belonged, but for the race of mankind. When R. S. returned 
home from journeys taken from motives of duty, he returned with a 
thankful and cheerful heart, although sometimes in tears — tears 
springing from grateful sensations ; for he enjoyed all his comforts 
of every kind, desiring nothing but what was allowable, and with 
pious resignation submitted to the bereavements, which his suscep- 
tible nature poignantly felt. He was indeed greatly favoured in 
domestic and social life ; and his own company and conversation, 
while it increased the happiness of all around him, by that means 
also increased his own. He delighted and instructed his associates, 
because he was humble and condescending : the gentleman, the 
scholar, and the Christian, were united in his character ; it was 
also marked with a simplicity which derogated nothing from the 
dignity that pure and undefiled religion confers. It was not in the 
circles of his distant friends or acquaintance, that this good man 
appeared to most advantage. It was by his own fire- side, that his 
sweetness of temper and his unaffected piety beamed brightest. His 
excellent wife was the constant object of his care and affection ; his 
children also were his companions and his confidants. He showed 
them most of the letters which he wrote and received, and expected 
like openness from them. This gave him opportunity to correct their 
style and their hand- writing, &c. ; and also to judge of the characters 
of their correspondents, and to encourage or discourage the friend- 
ships they seemed likely to form. He disapproved the manner that 
some young persons got into of handling religious subjects, with 
which their general conduct bespoke them to be little acquainted ; 
for though a nursing father to what was good, he desired not to have 
this theme introduced without a deep sense of its awfulness. He 
often read to his female audience while they sat at work ; and the 
subjects he chose were likely to " form the manners, and to mend 
the heart/' Though religious writings, being preferred by him, were 



264 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

frequently introduced, they were not forced upon his young hearers : 
historical events, and good moral poetry, diversified this entertain- 
ment. He often called to see his neighbours, and his son's house 
was a second home, where he loved and was beloved, and where he 
found his first paternal feelings revived, while his little grand- 
children flocked about him, " and cliniVd his knees, the envied 
kiss to share/' Oh the cheerfulness of a pure mind ! What inno- 
cent delight does it extract from every pleasant circumstance. 
Whether granted to the happy possessor of such a spirit or to others, 
it can appropriate all to its own enjoyment ! 

Though an almost imperceptible decay of memory, apparently 
accompanying a numbness in her right arm, increased upon Elizabeth 
Shackleton, these infirmities did not threaten her family with the 
sudden loss of her ; and R. S. was favoured with uncommon health, 
which seemed to promise long life. They were universally beloved, 
and their love was universal ; their years glided on in outward and 
inward peace, when the stroke of separation came, — grievous to sur- 
vivors, but doubtless sent in mercy, to call a faithful servant to meet 
his reward, and to take him from the evils to come. 

Eichard Shackleton returned from his last visit to his son and 
daughter Grubb, the 8th of Eighth Month, 1792. On the 21st he 
rose early, as he was accustomed to do, bathed, took leave of his 
family, and, accompanied by a servant, set out on horseback, for 
Mountmellick, to attend the committee for the Provincial school. 
He left home apparently in usual health and spirits ; but his daughter 
Chandlee, when he reached her house in A thy, six miles on the way, 
thought he did not seem quite well. However, he proceeded fourteen 
miles, to Mountmellick, to the house of his friend John Gatchell. 
Not apprehending that he was alarmingly ill, he sat one of the 
meetings ; but being obliged to go out of the next, J. G. sentR. S/s 
servant back to Ballitore on the 24th, to acquaint his family with 
his indisposition. His son, and daughter Sarah, immediately went 
to him : those who remained at home felt in full force the dread and 
anguish of suspense. It was a state they had not long to endure. It 
is painful to reflect upon these clays ; the messages backwards and 
forwards ; the visits of his children, distressed for both parents ; 
his poor, feeble wife overwhelmed with grief, and already on her 
journey to him, when all was terminated. This event caused a wide- 
spreading sorrow, wherever the dear deceased was known ; but bitter 
indeed were the tears of his wife and children : his little grand- 
children too, young as they were, could most of them feel the pang 
of separation. 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 265 

The Testimony of Carloiv Monthly Meeting, respecting Richard 
Shackleton, though it alludes to circumstances in his life which 
have been narrated in the foregoing memoir, is here introduced, as 
containing some particulars of his last illness, and affording proof 
of the estimation in which he was held by his friends. 

" Richard Shackleton was the only son of Abraham and Margaret 
Shackleton, respecting whom honourable mention hath been made in 
a testimony given forth by this meeting, and was born at Ballitore, 
the 28th of Seventh Month, (0. S.) 1726. Discovering early an 
inclination for learning, his father, who kept a boarding-school, had 
him instructed in the necessary qualifications for assisting and 
succeeding him in that useful occupation. An account of the visita- 
tions of Divine love mercifully extended to him, is found in his own 
writing, in a letter to a near friend, conveying much instruction, as 
follows : ' God Almighty visited my spirit with a sense of his good- 
ness (precious above all things) in the very early part of my life, as 
early as I think I have any remembrance. He graciously renewed 
the same Divine influence upon my soul, at various seasons of my 
childhood and more advanced youth, This sense and savour was 
every thing needful to me ; it was knowledge enough, strength 
enough, joy and comfort in abundance : while in possession of this 
I wanted nothing, all things as to me were right. But temptations, 
suited to my cast and dispositions as a boy, were thrown in my way : 
puerile amusements, reading unprofitable, vain books, were spread 
before me, and I was at times taken in the snare. When the heart 
gave its preference to these gratifications, the heavenly Guest with- 
drew, and would not reside with such rivals. Yet good and gracious 
wsls the Lord, who, notwithstanding my unfaithfulness, would knock 
again for an entrance, and offer again to visit ; and as I opened the 
door of my heart, (or rather he opened by his Spirit,) he came in 
with the power of his judgments, and by his operative Word, burned 
up the chaffy, combustible nature ; and this office being over, re- 
mained a flame of pure and heavenly joy. So I experienced him to 
be not only a jealous God, but a consuming fire. Thus, with these 
alternate visits and conflicts, I went on till I grew to a more advanced 
stage of youth ; then the subtle nets of glossy, worldly wisdom, and 
the toils of youthful lusts, which war against the soul, proved too 
strong for me, and often carried my vessel back again down the 
stream of natural inclination. Arrived at manhood, and being about 
to settle in life, a high hand arrested me in my course, showed me 
my state of alienation, and the impossibility of my making a happy 



266 MEMOIRS OP RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

progress without the Divine blessing ; so, in the sincerity of my heart, 
I obeyed the heavenly vision, became as a fool amongst my com- 
panions, and an alien amongst my intimate acquaintance. I sought 
retirement, and the company of them who companied with Jesus. 
My sincerity was seen by the great Creator, and many were the 
baptisms I was baptized with in that day : it was also felt by his 
approved servants, and close was the fellowship cemented between 
many of their spirits and mine. Thus I have gone on to this day 
and hour, on the same search, hungry and thirsty still ; not desiring 
anything so much as the bread of life, for myself and my dear 
friends, companions in the same travail/ 

" Though possessed of superior natural abilities, and adorned 
with the gifts and graces of the Spirit, he did not value himself 
thereon ; but steadily advanced in his pilgrimage, bowed down under 
a grateful sense of the numerous favours received at the Divine 
hand. To his most intimate friends he frequently enforced the 
necessity of humility, as the only safe situation to keep continually 
in ; dreading lest himself, or those he dearly loved, should, by the 
stratagems of the enemy, be drawn therefrom. His naturally cheer- 
ful disposition being in great measure regulated by Best Wisdom, he 
had much enjoyment of social and domestic comforts, with which he 
was remarkably blest. He was a kind, affectionate husband, a tender 
and careful father, a good neighbour, liberal and generous, especially 
exemplary in any thing relating to the wants of our Society. But 
he was careful that his attention should not be too long occupied by 
any thing in this world. Those who had the opportunity of minutely 
observing his conduct, have often perceived him retiring from com- 
pany, to seek in secret a renewal of spiritual strength. And we 
doubt not, with like filial piety, in the midst of his outward employ, 
(which he conducted with great reputation,) he was engaged fre- 
quently to ask for Divine counsel and wisdom, particularly when 
deprived by death of his highly-valued father. He recommended to 
his friends a practice which he found beneficial to himself, devoting 
a part of each evening to religious retirement : the effects of such 
sacrifices were at times obvious in him, his countenance indicating 
that he had been in the best company. 

" The prosperity of genuine Christianity was the object of his 
greatest solicitude, — for this his spirit was exercised in deep mental 
travail, — for this he was willing to be employed in any way consistent 
with Infinite Wisdom, in private or more public labour. He was 
particularly exemplary in a diligent attendance of meetings appointed 
for the good order of Society ; and latterly, when at liberty from his 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 267 

outward occupation, he almost constantly attended the Yearly Meet- 
ing in London. He long filled, with much propriety, the weighty 
station of an elder. As his dwelling was near the Spring of Divine 
refreshment, he was often enabled to draw water for the benefit of 
others. He was a man of great benevolence, and the welfare of his 
fellow-creatures was very near his heart, frequently expressing his 
deep travail of spirit for the salvation of all mankind. For the 
departure from ancient purity, obvious in our religious Society, he 
deeply mourned : on this account his tears were poured forth ; yet 
he was consoled in hope, that through suffering and patience the 
church would come forth from her wilderness state, though he did 
not expect to see it in his day. 

" He was often engaged in family- visits in divers parts, and was 
earnest that the flock might be led into fresh and living pastures, 
and feed securely beside the still waters. He used to say that he 
esteemed it his honour to be allowed to tread these courts, or to be 
employed on any little errand, as a boy or runner, about the house ; 
because in this house there was abundance of soul-sustaining nou- 
rishment — there was bread enough and to spare ; and when thus 
broken in spirit amongst his friends, and thus pouring forth the 
warm expression of his gratitude, he would speak largely of the 
beauty of the house of God, how it is all glorious, how its pavement 
shone with holiness, and how clean ouo-ht to be the feet which trod 
therein. He was well gifted for this private labour in families, which 
he believed our Lord particularly intended, when He enjoined the 
disciples to wash one another's feet ; being an unceasing obligation 
on all their successors in the Truth, to do even as He had done to 
them, that by this exercise of discipline the members might be pre- 
served clean from spot or blemish. Being endued with the spirit of 
discernment respecting ministry, (which he earnestly desired might 
flow pure and unmixed from the sacred Spring,) he was well qualified 
to be a nursing father to those in the station of minister who wanted 
a hand of help, and such he encouraged to an humble, simple, 
faithful, diligent occupying with the Divine gift. 

" In a letter, a few months before his decease, he wrote : ' The 
faithfulness and dedication of some of you has been cause of joy, 
and a kind of triumph to me ; so that, according to my measure, I 
can join a remnant in adopting the apostle's expression : ' For what 
is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the 
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? for ye are our 
glory and joy/ To the Lord alone be the praise of his own works, 
but let his own works praise him.' He was fervent in intercession 



268 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

for his beloved offspring, that they might be preserved near the 
Source of all our blessings ; and as they dwelt humbly before Him, 
who is Lord of earth as well as heaven, he had no doubt but a suffi- 
ciency of the good things of this life would be granted them, with a 
' treasure in the heavens that faileth not/ To a particular friend, 
about three weeks before his decease, he wrote, ' I trust that we 
know something of the vicissitude of day and night, and the revolu- 
tion of the Lord's year, in our spirits, and that He will be mercifully 
pleased to deliver us from evil, and preserve us to the end, and at 
the end/ 

" Being on a visit to our Provincial school at Mountmellick, he 
was taken ill at the house of our friend John Gatchell. Under the 
heavy pressure of his disorder, which was termed a low fever, he 
said he did not know how the dispensation would terminate : if it 
was come for the final separation, he feared he was not prepared, 
but he believed the baptism of sickness was necessary for purifica- 
tion. After much depression of mind, he was encouraged in the 
recollection of Isaiah xl. chapter 1st and 2nd verses : ' Comfort 
ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord your God. Speak ye com- 
fortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accom- 
plished, that her iniquity is pardoned ; for she hath received of the 
Lord's hand double for all her sins/ He discovered no impatience, 
lay calm, and spoke at times rather cheerfully to those about him. 
He once said, ' I think it a favour that I feel a sympathy with the 
seed in suffering/ He spoke of what a gloomy day it was in. Jeru- 
salem when our Lord was about to be offered up, how afflicted 
the women were who followed Him, and how He exhorted them : 
' Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but w r eep for yourselves, 
and for your children.' Also how r the high professors arrayed Him 
in a purple robe, and mocked Him ; and that now the same spirit 
was setting up a mockery of Christianity, while they were crucifying 
Him afresh. He said that the present times required to send for 
the mourning women, such as were skilful in lamentation. At 
another time, appearing under great languor and depression, he 
said, ' My friends, my friends, pray for me, that my patience fail 
not/ To some taking leave of him, he recommended faithfulness 
and dedication to religious duties, which would draw down the bless- 
ing on them, and on their families : he said that what we profess is 
the Truth, which our worthy predecessors were so eminently called 
to support, laying the axe to the root of the corrupt tree. He spoke 
of a sacrifice which David made, that was accepted, even a broken 
and a contrite spirit, and he hoped that his also was accepted. 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SIIACKLETON. 269 

" Early in the morning of the 28th of Eighth Month, being the 
eighth day of his illness, he passed through sore conflict. For about an 
hour he was favoured with calmness : frequently embraced a beloved 
child who attended him ; and about seven o'clock the same morn- 
ing, quietly departed this life, in the 66th year of his age. His 
remains, being conveyed to Ballitore, were interred the SOth of the 
month, after a solemn meeting. 

" Having been uncommonly blessed with health, and his mental 
faculties continuing undiminished, to his beloved wife, numerous 
friends and connexions, his removal was an unexpected stroke. We 
doubt not his purified spirit is now in the enjoyment of an ever- 
lasting crown. May we profitably feel our loss ! ' Who then is a 
faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his 
household, to give them meat in due season ? Blessed is that servant 
whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say 
unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods/ " 

The testimony of his friend Edmund Burke, who also could justly 
appreciate the character of him whom he had loved so long and so 
sincerely, ought, in justice to their mutual friendship, to find a place 
here. 

LETTER FROM EDMUND BURKE TO MARY LEADBEATER. 

" Beaconsfield, September 8th, 1792. 
" My dear Madam, 
" After some tears on the truly-melancholy event, of which your 
letter gives me the first account, I sit down to thank you for your 
very kind attention to me, in a season of so much, and so just sorrow 
to yourself. Certainly my loss is not so great as yours, who con- 
stantly enjoyed the advantage and satisfaction of the society of such 
a companion, such a friend, such an instructor, and such an example : 
yet I am penetrated with a very severe affliction, for my loss is great 
too. I am declining, or rather declined in life ; and the loss of 
friends, at no time very reparable, is impossible to be repaired at all 
in this advanced period. His annual visit had been for some years 
a source of satisfaction that I cannot easily express. He had kept 
up the fervour of youthful affections ; and his vivacity and cheer- 
fulness, which made his early days so pleasant, continued the same 
to the last : the strictness of his virtue and piety had nothing in it 
of morose or austere ; and surely no life was better, and, it is a com- 
fort to us to add, more happily spent than his. I knew him from 



270 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

the boyish days in which we began to love each other : his talents 
were great, strong, and various ; there was no art or science to which 
they were not sufficient in the contemplative life, nor any employ- 
ment that they would not more than adequately fill in the active. 
Though his talents were not without that ambition which generally 
accompanies great natural endowments, it was kept under by great 
wisdom and temperance of mind ; and though it was his opinion that 
the exercise of virtue was more easy, its nature more pure, and its 
means more certain in the walk he chose, yet in that, the activity 
and energy which formed the character of his mind, were very visible. 
Apparently in a private path of life, his spirit was public. You 
know how tender a father he was, to children worthy of him ; yet he 
extended himself more widely, and devoted a great part of his time to 
the good of that Society, of no mean extent, of which the order of 
Divine Providence had made him a member. With a heart far from 
excluding others, he was entirely devoted to the benefit of that 
Society, and had a zeal very uncommon for every thing which re- 
garded its welfare and reputation ; and when he retired, which he 
did wisely, and in time, from the worthy occupation which he filled 
in a superior manner, his time and thoughts were given to that 
object. He sanctified his family benevolence, his benevolence to his 
Society, and to his friends, and to mankind, with that reverence in 
all things to the Supreme Being, without which the best dispositions, 
and the best teaching, will make virtue, if it can be at all attained, 
uncertain, poor, hard, dry, cold, and comfortless. Indeed we have 
had a loss. I console myself under it, by going over the virtues of 
my old friend, of which, I believe, I am one of the earliest witnesses, 
and the most warm admirers and lovers. 

" Believe me, this whole family, who have adopted my interest in 
my excellent departed friend, are deeply touched with our common 

loss, and sympathize with you most sincerely I hope you 

will assure my dear friend, Mrs. Shackleton, the worthy wife of my 
late invaluable friend, that we sympathize cordially in all she feels ; 
and join our entreaties to yours, that she will preserve to you, as 
much as possible of the friend and parent you have lost. 

" E. B." 

The following letter is from Thomas Wilkinson : 

" Yanwath, 28th of Tenth Month, 1792. 
" Dear Friend, 

"It is certainly more congenial to my disposition to visit the 

abodes of sorrow, than the mansions of joy and festivity ; not that 



MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 271 

I am insensible to the comfort and happiness of those I love, but if 
my friends are more near to me at one period than another, it is when 
they are under the pressure of affliction. Though I have deferred 
paying my visit of sympathy and affection in this way till now, it 
was not because you were not daily in my remembrance ; but sorrow 
is not at all times communicative, and I reflected that numerous 
would be the tributes of condolence on the late mournful occasion : 
mine might, perhaps, have been spared. Of your loss I make esti- 
mation from what I have felt myself. I have but twice in my life 
had the satisfaction of any personal intercourse with the dear de- 
ceased, and these at six years' distance from each other ; yet the 
lively impression of Ttichard Shackleton, left thereby on my mind, 
is equalled by few indeed. Few indeed possessed the powers of 
engaging and improving those around them, by their society, like 
him. His pleasant and communicative disposition opened his way 
with all ranks. It sometimes happens that the great and the good 
are encircled by a forbidding gravity, (I mean, something distinct 
from religious authority,) but in him the love of the Almighty was 
shown in kindness and good- will to those around him : this gave him 
place wherever he came, and his mind seemed equally fit for the 
vigour of reasoning, the capacious range of science, or to comfort 
and bring forward the hindmost of his brethren and sisters. To me 
he was kind indeed, and there is a sweetness accompanies his memory 
in my mind, hard to be described, which I believe will be the general 
feeling where he was known ; so that his loss will be as extensive as 
his acquaintance, and lasting as the present generation : to you, 
dear friends, it must be peculiarly trying, — you who felt his paternal 
care, — you who felt the cheering influence of his daily conversation, 
and saw r a thousand little acts of solicitude and kindness, unknown 
to the eyes of his more distant friends. 

" I need not, I cannot enlarge. Farewell : if the cloud of mourn- 
ing o'ershadows your valley, extend your prospect to that bright 
region, where your father, companion, and friend is, I believe, 
gathered to the just of all generations ; and where a few more days, 
a few more tears, a few more struggles, and, if we follow the Light 
that guided him, we shall rejoin his released spirit, and be united to 
the redeemed and happy for ever and ever ! 

« t. w/; 

Notwithstanding the declining state of Elizabeth Shackleton's 
faculties, she felt, with all its weight and poignancy, the overwhelm- 
ing blow which deprived her of such a husband, and this heavy 



272 MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SHACKLETON. 

affliction seemed to accelerate the decay of her intellectual powers. 
Yet she got out to General Meetings, as well as to her own, for a 
few years, and could enjoy the pleasure of entertaining her friends. 
It was in her house that the valuable life of Job Scott was closed, 
and she accounted herself favoured in witnessing his happy and 
triumphant conclusion. 

Whilst the helplessness of second childhood, accompanied by the 
innocence of childhood, increased upon her, it might be accounted a 
mercy to Elizabeth Shackleton, that the cloud which overspread her 
mind, once so susceptible, prevented her from a painful participation 
in the distresses of her native country. In the memorable year, 
1 798, the Rebellion raged violently at Ballitore : the following 
winter the quiet of the inhabitants was often broken in upon by 
robbers in the dead of night ; yet those who took up arms in re- 
bellion, those who came armed to inflict punishment, and the mid- 
night robber, however furious in their conduct and expressions to 
others, uniformly treated her with respect, and often with tender- 
ness. She did not appear to be terrified, as others were, in those 
times of dismay ; yet it is likely she felt the effects of the confusion 
and alarm which surrounded her, and that her mental energies were 
additionally weakened thereby, though she continued sensible of the 
affectionate attention manifested towards her by her friends. 

Her bodily powers failed by degrees, and, gradually withdrawing 
from life, and unconscious of the approach of death, she gently 
breathed her last, the 23rd of Third Month, 1804, in the 78th year 
of her age. 

Thus lived and thus died, Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton, 
adorning by their conduct the doctrine they professed ; and prepared, 
we trust, through the power of redeeming love, for " an inheritance 
among all them that are sanctified/' 



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